An interesting concept, although I'm over thirty, and I've never used a commodore 64 before. The console is very impressive and unique!

This is awesome, it's like LOGO but with combat. There are a couple of glitches with the console -- you can delete the whole screen but then it doesn't notice when you open new commands -- but overall this is a really solid entry.

Wow very cool graphics and UI! The idea is really great and so is the execution, and you managed to make graphics that fits the game very well.

@larsdu Thanks! A C64 was my first ever computer, so theres a lot of nostalgia there for me. But that much being said I dont have any experience at all with many other computers of that era!

@misterkeefe Glad you liked it, very interesting about that glitch! Ive got not idea why deleting all the text does that. I see the placeholder text can come back after you delete it as well. Odd stuff but not surprising since the editor code was the trickest and most error prone. There seems to be a lot of conditions that can cause issues or break it.

@batswinger Yeh the cyberpunk graphics really came in at the last moment but Im glad they did, was looking pretty boring before then. Thanks for your feedback :)

The game appeared laggy in my browser with the interface not reacting to most of my inputs rendering it unplayable. I would still love to test it though because it seems original with beautiful graphics but it just didn't work for me.
If you were to upload a compiled version for Linux I would like to retest it though :)

Really enjoyed playing your game! I really like the way you presented the game. The UI looks really polished. Some of the sounds were really loud, and scared me a bit because I turned up the volume for the not as loud background music. Anyway, great game!

I really like the idea! The whole atmosphere is really on point, with a great overall quality. Sadly the game feels kinda slow to play, it would have been nice to make the tank faster. But again, great general mood, I loved it!

One small gameplay comment -- don't know how easy this is to implement in your setup but could you let the tank travel multiple squares without stopping on each one?

@adinimys Ok Windows and Linux builds are up! No reason not to have them, Ive just been lazy. But thanks for the feedback, if you do get a chance to play the linux build can you please let me know if its working? Ive got no linux install avaliable right now!

@thomz12 Sorry about the sounds! You are right tho, the ambient sound levels set you up for louder volume, I made a quick fix to make the sound a bit less aggressive for future players.

@oscarglo Thanks :) Yeh I had it in my notes to fine tune the tank movement a bit, it didnt get much attention once it was implemented about 50ish hours in. Thanks tho!

@misterkeefe Ahh, there is a bit in the instructions from the AI bot which explains you can do movements of 1-9 squares at once. I wanted to do the same for rotations to speed that up (plus adding a reverse movement) but didnt get around to it.

@alex-adedge ah yeah I got that, I meant more to smooth the movement out -- like if you type `MOVE 4` then the tank moves one square, four times as opposed to four squares, one time, if you see what I mean. In between moving each square it comes to a halt as opposed to rolling smoothly over multiple squares at once. It's a very minor thing :)

@alex-adedge Thanks for your efforts. Obviously I'll be willing to check if the Linux build works. Sadly it still doesn't work. Both the Linux and Windows zip files cannot be opened and I'm getting an error

"Open ERROR: Can not open the file as [zip] archive
ERRORS:
Is not archive"

I never had any issue opening .zip on this computer so I assume the issue is with your file. :/

Also most of the people expect to be able to click the link to get to the download while I get a 404 error and I've got to "Save as" to get the file

@misterkeefe Ohh I see. Yes that would certainly improve the gameplay! Also maybe something that indicates exactly what square youre aiming for, before you hit enter on the command.

@adinimys Hmm sorry, what a pain! Ive downloaded and extracted the files and theyre working for me (using 7zip). The only thing I can think of is that maybe you downloaded while I was messing with the files and that messed it up, or 7zip doesnt make compatible .zips for Linux. Ive uploaded another one here using the main windows zip function instead: http://delta-edge.com/CommodoreCommander/CCommandv06_Linux.zip
I'll see if I can sort out better hosting tomorrow, I should just do a dropbox link perhaps.

This is amazing, I have almost nothing to say yo!

Love the idea! Wish you could run batches of commands at once in a sequence - like "move 3, tur r, fire" in the first encounter. Even coding topics like GOTO would be a neat mechanic (set up your tank as a turret! Have multiple tanks move on determined paths!) Would be awesome to plan maneuvers in advance and watch them get executed. That'd go a long way to making it play a bit quicker. I'd like to see a multiplayer version of this! Visuals and atmosphere is also on point, and the commodore console is surprisingly authentic - super impressed!

Love the concept and the graphics are gorgeous! The sound is nice too and really completes the mood. I would love to see this as a pedagogical tool for teaching programming! I think having more advanced programming constructs in additional levels would be really cool. Fantastic work!

The concept is really unique! Love the graphics and sound. Very well-made game! Great job!

Great concept! Especially for programmers. really like the tron-like graphic style.

@fever-dream-johnny Haha thanks! :)

@marcio-miranda @brndncn I very much agree, in fact that was the original idea I had for the game! I was originally wanting it so you would learn BAISC code (ie ABot would teach you how to code via simple challenges early on like moving to a location or shooting some target) so then youd be writing actual scripts to execute. It would moreso be a simple AI script youd create, then send the tank off and see if it worked, then iterate the design etc until you passed levels or objectives. Buuut, implementing the text editor took longer than expected, and I could see early on that implementing even partial BASIC scripting would take far to long so I pivoted away to use simpler custom commands instead. A bit of a shame because I was excited about the 'teaching to code' idea, but Im thinking post-jam Id like to continue working on the interface to get BASIC working for sure.

Also Marcio, commands can be queued, you just keep writing them and they'll execute in order. Ive solved the first level and a half typing ahead, Im sure you could type a bunch of commands in 60 seconds or so to complete all the levels if you learnt a sequence that worked well. What I could have also done would be to input a 'pause' command so the tank doesnt do anything until youve entered as many commands as youd like - something else considered but I didnt have time for.

@finn-tr @zyllen Thanks, glad you liked it, I appreciate the feedback!

It's amazing you were able to program all of these systems in such a short amount of time. I especially like the multiple camera options and how each one limits your view in a different way.

:thumbsup: great game and nice concept. love the 3d models and A-Bot is cute :heart_eyes: it should be more awesome if you add Background Music to it. i don't know about you, but i just imagine how cool this game if this played in multiplayer, it sure would be fun watching people typo messing their tank.. and again this is just my crazy tought :laughing: anyway, good job on making this game..

I really like your idea. I encountered a UI bug: if you play this game on fullscreen HTML5 version, the focus window button is somwere lower.

The screensots is below.


Really awsome concept and execution! Graphics are super cool.

i love gameplay, couple of years ago i had similar idea, to control game with written commands, thats great! enjoyed playing your game! good job!

@si-wtosl Thanks! Yeh I dont know how I managed to do it, a lot of gamejam game ideas I usually have tend to have a bunch of different systems working together. Its a pain because it makes for a lot of work. But its nice when it actually all comes together :)

@amazura Yeh music was something I wish I could have gotten around to, I took a stab at it but just ran out of time. An area I need to up-skill in for sure. Multiplayer would make things interesting yes!

@bredian Fullscreen is unfortunetly broken, I didnt have time to setup the UI to be scale-able. Probably the #1 thing I want to fix in a post-jam version tbh, I always underestimate how many people like to play fullscreen. Cheers for the feedback tho.

@szkocka @jacksgamessucks Thanks guys, glad you liked it!

my god what a solid game for a jam! I love the c64 basic input style, as a retro computing lover/collector I can tell the C= feeling is the same :D
When I was in high school I was developing a similar idea for a tank game with puzzle levels and fixed turrets that needed a good strategy and right moves not to get shot at. Was nice to see a similar concept here.

A-BOT and the tutorial are charming, and the basic look feel of the game is great. This is a solid entry!

One piece of feedback, though: I feel like the C64 thing wasn't really used as anything more than window dressing, which was a little disappointing. It's a shame that trying to write a listing in a sequence of numbered commands just gives you a syntax error, for example, or that the game doesn't understand commands like LOAD. From reading this page it does seem like maybe you have plans to dig into that post compo, though, which is good. Excited to play that!

@rujo @terry Thanks! Im glad the C64 was so convincing. I spent most of the first day working on the text input, it ended up being WAY more work than I expected and thats after expecting it to be quite a bit of work! The real C64 editor seems pretty simple in practice, but the further you dig into making one the more you realize theres a lot of conditions and features just to make the simplest console. As it is the console in Commodore Commander is super easy to break now as well, theres lots of glitches with it.
Terry I agree tho, and that was certainly the original idea. I literally wanted you to be able to write simple BASIC scripts (ie with IF statements, the ability to poke/peek at addresses, load/save commands and so on) all to control the tank. A-Bot would be an instructor explaning how to code. But I had to pivot and settle on a very simple custom command set in order to finish the game within the game jam times. Likewise it probably helped me because a scripting game would have been tedious and slow, and maybe not idea as a game jam entry when people have very limited time to play games. Its a slow enough game as it is now!

That much being said, I would like to keep working on it and can see it turning moreso into a code teaching educational game. It would be nice to see A-BOT return to teach people programming and the ancient ways of the Commodore 64, we'll see what happens :P
My twitter is here if youre keen to keep an eye out for future updates: https://twitter.com/Alex_ADEdge

Very solid entry and reminiscent of old times!

I think checkpoints could be helpful, so you won't have to restart from the very beginning if accidentally gotten into a purple zone.
Got to the third level, felt very immersed, shoot a few things - and then one wrong command got me to the start :(

The style is awesome, multiple cameras to see the view are nice too.- but I mostly used the top camera
Perhaps the tank view is better for some scenic shots? Some balance needed there :)

Otherwise, very nice and unique entry, great job!

One of my favorites so far, I love the Tron-like aesthetics, lovely retrofuturism, it delivers a really nice and unique atmosphere. The concept is clever, full of interesting ideas and well exectued, I enjoyed a lot my playthrough and the tutorial was perfectly handled which is nice for a jam game ! that little robot buddy in the top right is a also really a nice touch ahah ! Solid entry you made there, good job :)

Oh, no! Hahahahah.
Trying again...


Very impressive game entry, nice polish and great gameplay.

My master's thesis is about computational thinking and your game made me reflect on the topic and even gave me some new ideas.

Nice work!


Análise...

1 - Mecânicas, Aprendizado e Fluxo:
Mover, atirar, girar, girar o canhão. Diversas interações muito interessantes.
Eu gostaria que tivesse como atirar várias vezes seguidas (mesmo que demorasse um pouco) com o "fire", porque há momentos que o tiro erra o alvo (creio que seja um bug).
Aprender a jogar foi bastante facilitado com o tutorial em jogo. Gostaria que tivesse como acelerar o texto (tive medo de apertar next e ir direto para a próxima sem ler tudo, mas o "Abot" fala muito devagar).
O fluxo de jogo começa caminhando bem, ao meu ver, com o primeiro estágio apresentando movimentação e o segundo estágio introduzindo às mecânicas de tiro e dos inimigos mais simples; entretanto a escalada pareceu muito elevada no segundo estágio (hahahahah).
Não sei se era o pretendido, mas precisar declarar "warp" para sair de estágio me pareceu redundante, a menos que faça parte do desafio não morrer antes de apertar warp em algum estágio.
Gostaria que tivesse como mover o canhão de girasse de cinco em quarenta e cinco graus se eu quisesse, para atirar na diagonal.

2 - Gráficos, Áudio e Narrativa:
Senti falta de música, tanto que (ao morrer) assustei bastante quando teve um efeito sonoro (que ficaram até bons para tempo de game jam).
A arte gráfica está bacana e bem colocada. :)

3 - Cultura:
Fez referência ao antigo Sistema Operacional que dá nome ao jogo (que eu não tive idade para usar).
Além disso, falou sobre guerra; desta forma o jogo reúne as duas coisas e ainda mostra a realidade de sistemas controlados à distância (ao menos antes de Inteligência Computacional do nível atual, e bons Sistemas de Controle).

4 - Monetização:
O passo do jogo é meio lento, ao meu ver, então creio que venderia mais para nichos específicos.
Seria uma boa procurar a melhor store para vender e investir em publicidade para alcançar o público-alvo.

Analysis...

1 - Mechanics, Learning and Flow:
Move, shoot, rotate, rotate the cannon. Several very interesting interactions.
I wish I could shoot several times in a row (even if it took a while) with the "fire", because there are times when the shot misses the target (I believe it is a bug).
Learning to play was made much easier with the in-game tutorial. I wish I could speed up the text (I was afraid to press next and go straight to the next without reading everything, but "Abot" speaks very slowly).
The game flow starts walking well, in my view, with the first stage showing movement and the second stage introducing the most simple shooting and enemy mechanics; however the climb seemed very high in the second stage (hahahahah).
I don't know if it was intended, but needing to declare "warp" to leave the stage seemed redundant, unless it is part of the challenge not to die before pressing warp at some stage.
I wish I could move the cannon to rotate every 45 degrees if I wanted to shoot diagonally.

2 - Graphics, Audio and Narrative:
I missed music, so much that (when I died) it scared me a lot when it had a sound effect (they were even good for game jam time).
Graphic art is cool and well placed. :)

3 - Culture:
He made reference to the old Operating System that gives the game its name (which I was not old enough to use).
In addition, he talked about war; in this way the game brings together both and still shows the reality of remote controlled systems (at least before Computational Intelligence at the current level, and good Control Systems).

4 - Monetization:
The pace of the game is a little slow, in my view, so I think it would sell more to specific niches.
It would be a good idea to look for the best store to sell and invest in advertising to reach the target audience.

Nice graphic, unique idea, hope you can improve more on the camera effects: shaking and stuff. But overall, best entry ever

A really amazing game! The visuals are simply stunning. The audio side could use a little bit more work, but I understand how difficult it is to fit absolutely everything in such a short time. And you've managed to fit a lot of things! ;)

When playing in full screen, the game window placement gets a little bit wonky:

It does work in normal mode, though, so I could use browser full screen mode.

The tutorial AI bot - you can skip it's messages, but it would be great if I could press a button to display the whole message instead of waiting for it to slowly appear, letter by letter. It makes the tutorial a little bit too frustrating to sit through.

As for the gameplay, it's really good. I only wish there was some sort of checkpoint system, letting you restart your current level instead of throwing you back to the start.

Also, did I see correctly? Can enemies shoot through the glowing cubes without damaging them?

Overall, it's an impressive entry. I enjoy playing it, and I'll sure play more of it. ;)

As a proud C64 owner, I can say - that was super fun! Great job on the game! One of my favorites this Jam. I loved the concept and the graphics, as well as sounds. All went together super well. I spent most of my time in top-down view anyway :laughing: Gameplay was great and I actually liked that there were no checkpoints - it accented the old-timey feel of the game.

I wish there was an easier way to tell which way your tank body is facing in the top-down mode. At the beginning, that was my one and only cause of death: I thought my body was facing side x and it really wasn't ;). Afterwards, I just started double checking in the other camera views.

I also wish the ABot was displaying his text a bit more rapidly or that we could just click to cancel the typing effect and see it all. The typing is somewhat slow.

I encountered a bit of bugs. Nothing game-breaking. The C64 sometimes did not react to command (thrown syntax error) and I had to repeat it. Like this:



Also, not really a bug but a thing: ABot tells me that I can put any number after the MOVE command. But that is not true. If you put a number of 10 and above it is treated as 1 or just ignored altogether.

When playing in full screen in the browser, buttons (like the "next" button) become unclickable. And some strange artifacts appear. Makes it practically unplayable full screen in a browser. Like this:

This is an interesting entry. Although I would prefer to start in the current level when the commodore fails the tank, than being thrown back to the tutorial - i guess it was intended to have some rogue-like elements? The game builds quite a unique tension when you have to type in your control commands, giving you the the slower pace of round based games meanwhile giving you the pressure of realtime reactions.