New game - Domin8tr1s - Released.

[zx81jens]

Hi!

Something different? Character-based?

Then Andre***´s Games are perfect for you

Greetings and good by(t)e
Jens

[bobs]

Errmm... yes, if I only wanted to play them. But I actually like writing these games!

[yerzmyey]

Maybe I'll change my mind one day, but I actually want to stay away from the whole hi-res stuff. I've spent the last couple of years coding for the Spectrum, and now want to try something different, and that includes the character-based graphics. I think they have a certain charm, and want to work with that.

Hehe, true.

[Andre]

Bonjour Bob,

I myself also prefer to write games. But you can look at some of my games to find out the possibilities of the characters set.

I tried your game. The animation is excellent and smooth. The graphics have some imperfections. For perfect clean looking graphics, look at Stafford White programs. He is very good at that."http://zx81.ordi5.free.fr/stafford". As for the coding...Well, I am not an ML fan yet. I am a basic man.

Many thanks again for this new ZX81 program. And now I can say...

The ZX81 pleasure is spreading...

[Shaun_B]

Just out of interest, here is the review I wrote of Domin8tr1s for the UK-Based magazine MIcro Mart (http://www.micromart.co.uk/):

///Introduction///
With the second Sinclair ZX81 release in as many weeks, Shaun takes a look at Bob Smith's Domin8tr1s.

///Header///
Fives and Threes

///Spec box///
Product: Domin8tr1s
Price: £TBA + postage
Developer: Bob Smith - www.bobs-stuff.co.uk
Publisher: Cronosoft - www.cronosoft.co.uk
Platform: 16K Sinclair ZX81 and compatibles

///Scores///
Overall: 7
A tricky and interesting take on Tetris limited by the host machine's monochrome visuals.

///Body copy///
Another week, another release for the Sinclair ZX81, and this one is from Bob Smith, who is busy putting the finishing touches for his second monochrome outing Virus previewed a few weeks back. It looks like 2010 will see some solid and good quality games for one of the most unsophisticated 8-bit home computers in history.
Domin8tr1s is Bob's first game for the quirky and miniature micro, and is in fact a conversion of his 2005 ZX Spectrum puzzler Dominetris with some improvements and adjustments added to suite the host machine's limitations.
The objective is to manoeuvre two adjoined and numbered tiles to the bottom of a well (or to place them appropriately on top of other tiles) so that you match the values making a chain connected either horizontally, vertically or both but not diagonally. When you've linked together at least the same number as to its' value (six sixes, for instance), those are removed from play and any tiles above will fall to fill the gaps. The only exception to this rule is if you have any tiles valued at one. These will simply clutter the play area unless they are touching a legal chain, or in other words, as a chain is taken out of play (and points are duly added to your score), so are any one-denoted tiles which are touching the link.
It might sound simple - the best puzzle games usually are. If this sounds somewhat familiar then I'll only have to remind you of Tetris or Columns to give you the general idea of this production. There are four skill levels, starting from the traditional dominoes of up to six through to nine (which is very difficult), and you can also start with anything up to nine rows if you want a real challenge, as you'll need to clear some of the randomly generated build in order to make life a little easier.
Each time the backdrop to the well changes you will be on a new skill level in which the dominoes will fall slightly faster, giving you less time for good placement, and when the top is blocked off to new tiles, the game is up.
There are no blanks as such, but a dual-sided 'bomb' will help to clear up to ten tiles from the well, which is handy if things are getting a little too cluttered. And not to make things too easy, these don't come along too often. Bob has allowed you to save the game state, should you have a blank cassette tape spare, which will also preserve your high scores, should you become a master at the game, and each skill level has a different league table [for the high scores], so there's no claiming that you're better at the game than you are.
As someone who can immerse himself in a Tetris session for some hours, this game is an interesting and thoroughly enjoyable one. There are some issues that do distract me when playing though; the numbers can be difficult to make out against some backdrops, and it's also more difficult if the tiles are inversed. Whilst the latter can be switched, the former can't be. This is just something to put up with and is as much to do with the limited nature of the ZX81 as anything else, so I can't complain. I should also point out that this is at least as good as its' Speccy counter-part, and has more options to toy with in relation to how difficult you want the game to be. With the second release in as many weeks, Sinclair's nearly-million-selling monochrome micro has made an unlikely return to the gaming scene, and with Virus close to completion, things can only get better. I'm sure Sony, Micro Soft and Nintendo are duly concerned!

///Images///
Domin8tr1s(a).png

///Caption///
Inversed tiles can be difficult to see on certain backgrounds

///Images///
Domin8tr1s(b).png

///Caption///
Things become a little fraught on the highest skill level

///Images///
Domin8tr1s(c).png
Domin8tr1s(d).png