lemon games compo #11 - DROPZONE

Matt · Posted: Tue Nov 11, 2003 11:30 pm Post subject: lemon games compo #11 - DROPZONE

howdy and welcome to round 11 of the LEMON GAMES COMPETITION

another classic chosen by the masses:
DROPZONE!

RULES:

games compo starts now and will end sunday 30th of november 2003 at 24h00 PM

the aim of the game is to score as much points as possible

post screenshots with your highest score in this thread.

don't cheat! (be fair alright?)

check out The Scorelord pages, now Cool

download DROPZONE here, found at Magyar Commodore 64 Hq., it's the TALENT version.

LINKS:

read the full zzap!64 review of DROPZONE here!

QUESTIONS:

please check the Lemon Games Compo FAQ

STANDINGS:

check out the current standings here

game on!
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c64pixels.com

MTR1975/FSP · Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2003 12:20 am Post subject:

Ok here is my first very lame score... Smile

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Om.

shteev · Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2003 1:11 am Post subject:

Ooh, its hard this, aint it? I can't help feeling that my crappy joypad is not up to the task. Never mind, here's a score:

191,720
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Hey, you. Dumbass. Yeah, you in the tank. Cosy in there?

Kusarigama · Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2003 9:43 am Post subject:

"It's now the time to kick ass and chew some bubble gum, and I'm all out of gum!" (© Duke Nukem)

OK, let's try this! Never played that, I hope I won't suck!!!
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SLF

Matt wrote:

howdy and welcome to round 11

game on!

Great job as usual, mate, but the standings don't seem to be updated to the Gyruss compo.

Game on! Very Happy

shteev, I expect you to come back soon with a score less weedy than that Razz

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My top games: 1.Hawkeye, 2.Uridium, 3.Creatures II, 4.Delta, 5.Bubble Bobble, 6.Ikari Warriors, 7.Armalyte, 8.Bionic Commando, 9.Archon, 10.Buggy Boy.

Thunderer · Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2003 9:51 am Post subject:

My rank is not liste, more practice recommended. What a snobbish video game this is.

Shteev, you are monster has anybody told you that. Smile

Mark it seems that I have to eat loaves of bread to reach your score. Smile

Matt

SLF wrote:

Great job as usual, mate, but the standings don't seem to be updated to the Gyruss compo.

oh that's just me being the lazy motherfucker again Cool

pantience

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c64pixels.com

Matt · Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2003 11:15 am Post subject:

btw, it seems like this is another true classic I missed in the days. I had a quick play the other day and I might join the competition aswell this time. true gamers don't need to worry now, I'm just another gamer-lamer who don't know shite about what gaming is all about anyway Cool

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c64pixels.com

shteev · Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2003 1:01 pm Post subject:

Thunderer wrote:

Shteev, you are monster has anybody told you that. Smile

Oh, I haven't even started yet....
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Hey, you. Dumbass. Yeah, you in the tank. Cosy in there?

Kusarigama · Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2003 1:50 pm Post subject:

OK, this is my first score: 17,090

http://xoomer.virgilio.it/sakuranouchi/drop.gif

EDIT: Damn!!!! Pissed

It was working when I posted! It seems that the only way to watch that f***ing picture is to right click on the link and then "save as" somewhere...
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Apollyon · Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2003 3:37 pm Post subject:

Haha it is funny when you shoot all the scientists...

Tough game, after a couple of tries i am somewhere at 79000 points.

MTR1975/FSP · Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2003 3:50 pm Post subject:

Apollyon wrote:

Haha it is funny when you shoot all the scientists...

Took me a couple of attempts to actually remember that you have to save the scientists! Wotta great game this is! I totally forgot! Calling it a Defender clone does not do it justice at all...
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Om.

SLF · Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2003 10:23 am Post subject:

MTR1975/FSP wrote:

Apollyon wrote:

Haha it is funny when you shoot all the scientists...

Took me a couple of attempts to actually remember that you have to save the scientists! Wotta great game this is! I totally forgot! Calling it a Defender clone does not do it justice at all...

Too true! I missed this back in the day 'cause by 1984-85 I hadn't yet my c64 and when I did Dropzone wasn't anymore on the shelves. I remember Zzap!64 used to magnificate it a lot even in 1988-89.

I played this for the first time in 2001 on emulator and I think it totally rocks! Not much variety you may think but it's a cool restless allout blast and you always want to top your score! Very Happy

And the rank at the end of the game adds another little something...

I think this really suits this competition. Cool

I suggest you lot to read Gordon's review here on Lemon, really nice.
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My top games: 1.Hawkeye, 2.Uridium, 3.Creatures II, 4.Delta, 5.Bubble Bobble, 6.Ikari Warriors, 7.Armalyte, 8.Bionic Commando, 9.Archon, 10.Buggy Boy.

Shocktrooper · Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2003 10:39 am Post subject:

It's not as hard as I expected it to be.. After a few games I was at 44000.. I'll post a score later this week

shteev · Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2003 8:53 pm Post subject:

After a few games I seem to be getting into the swing of it...

877,500

To be honest, I didn't really FEEL like I was getting much better at the game, since I was dying all the time; but it's never very far to 10,000 points and your next extra life. Nearly bought it big style twice since I've just started using CCS v3.0 in a window, and my screensaver kicked in Smile

I remember reading a Zzap guide to playing Dropzone many years ago, but I can't find it anywhere on the net.
_________________

Hey, you. Dumbass. Yeah, you in the tank. Cosy in there?

Apollyon · Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2003 9:05 pm Post subject:

Which attack wave was that, 473rd? Suddenly my motivation to continue has dropped a lot and i guess even more for those who were not so keen about this game in the first place...

shteev · Posted: Fri Nov 14, 2003 3:26 am Post subject:

Apollyon wrote:

Which attack wave was that, 473rd? Suddenly my motivation to continue has dropped a lot and i guess even more for those who were not so keen about this game in the first place...

Apologies.. I've played this game a lot in the past few days because I've enjoyed it. I'll suspend my Dropzoning activities until someone beats my score. Do please note, in the past, I've been more than happy to post strategic information about high scores I've got. And here's some more: use the top of the screen to shoot spores and nmeyes.

I'm quite happy playing Iridis Alpha for a while....

P.S. I think it was around level 60.
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Hey, you. Dumbass. Yeah, you in the tank. Cosy in there?

SLF · Posted: Fri Nov 14, 2003 9:33 am Post subject:

shteev wrote:

After a few games I seem to be getting into the swing of it...

877,500

To be honest, I didn't really FEEL like I was getting much better at the game, since I was dying all the time; but it's never very far to 10,000 points and your next extra life.

I remember reading a Zzap guide to playing Dropzone many years ago, but I can't find it anywhere on the net.

F***ing GREAT score!!!
Congrats, ninjashteev Cool

I think that the first few levels are some of the hardest because of the extra lives thing: in those you don't get many points for killing enemies and it's quite easy to die with a lame score. But persevere mates, I think it's quite rewarding (my top in the past was about 380K).

What ranking did you get in the end? The top one is "mission completed - you are a megastar" (I read it in Zzap!64, didn't see it myself Wink

)

I think that the guide you're referring to is in one of the few Zzap! issues whose scans are online at the DefGuide site (EDIT: issue 5 page 78) www.zzap64.co.uk .

You can rest on your laurels for a while, but remember that the Llamasoft best score (MayhemUK's) was 950,740 (albeit accomplished in just one week of play) Wink

And finally, a little starter from me

152,530 (ranking: ace)

http://spazioinwind.libero.it/cabi/ccs0.bmp

(copy and paste the link in your browser).
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My top games: 1.Hawkeye, 2.Uridium, 3.Creatures II, 4.Delta, 5.Bubble Bobble, 6.Ikari Warriors, 7.Armalyte, 8.Bionic Commando, 9.Archon, 10.Buggy Boy.

Thunderer · Posted: Fri Nov 14, 2003 10:32 am Post subject:

After two tries I got 2530 Sad

. Happy gaming guys.

5 mins later:

Third game and I improve a lot to 5330.
Evil or Very Mad

SLF · Posted: Fri Nov 14, 2003 10:39 am Post subject:

Thunderer wrote:

After two tries I got 2530 Sad

. Happy gaming guys.

As I said, the first few levels can be the trickiest, 'cause the more you proceed, the easier is to get extralives, and even if the game gets difficult, you can die a *lot* of times.
Of course it is important to learn some strategies (how to tackle the spores, never fly under a cloud, when to use the shield/cloak and the smart bombs...), and I suggest to go and read the hints in the link in my previous post.
But when you have the first hang of things you can improve massively and very quickly your score. So Don't Give Up... (wasn't that Suzanne Vega?) Smile

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My top games: 1.Hawkeye, 2.Uridium, 3.Creatures II, 4.Delta, 5.Bubble Bobble, 6.Ikari Warriors, 7.Armalyte, 8.Bionic Commando, 9.Archon, 10.Buggy Boy.

Thunderer · Posted: Fri Nov 14, 2003 11:52 am Post subject:

[quote="SLF"]

Thunderer wrote:

So Don't Give Up... (wasn't that Suzanne Vega?) Smile

I think it was Kate Bush and Peter Gabriel Wink

Firefox · Posted: Fri Nov 14, 2003 12:06 pm Post subject:

Apollyon wrote:

Suddenly my motivation to continue has dropped a lot and i guess even more for those who were not so keen about this game in the first place...

Agreed. But I still will give my best here with Dropzone. Never came far in this game, but I used to have some fun anyway. We'll see.....
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My life without a breadbin would be
like a world without the sun!

Apollyon · Posted: Fri Nov 14, 2003 12:24 pm Post subject:

I will play on as well. The tips in the article mentioned above are quite good i think. So far my use of smart bombs and the shield wasnt very effective. There are not many games on the C64 where you have to use more than just the directions and fire button in order to do well. In this respect Dropzone reminds me a bit of Thrust. Back in the days it was always too hard for me to enjoy it. Later it took me quite a while to master the controls and now it is one of my all time favourite games.

Btw, when and were is the "rank" displayed? I have the bod/talent crack but i havent seen anything yet. Cannot imagine to have overlooked it. It is also a pity that there is no music in the game. Not that it is needed ingame and the sound effects are good but i'd enjoy to listen to a good title tune in order to get into the mood before jumping into the action.

Mayhem · Posted: Fri Nov 14, 2003 12:56 pm Post subject:

SLF wrote:

You can rest on your laurels for a while, but remember that the Llamasoft best score (MayhemUK's) was 950,740 (albeit accomplished in just one week of play) Wink

Just 4 games in total for the record. I still play Dropzone regularly as it's one of my favourite C64 games Smile

I just hit a "zone" and ended up with my best score ever (previous was in the 800k region). I'll get the fabled 1 million some day Wink

I'm tempted to have a go tonight as the Llamasoft Lleague is on a week's hiatus and I have some spare time heh...
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Mayhem64 - for all your cartridge needs!

"My aim is to produce games that have graphics and audio that will rape your eyeballs and take your ears from behind with a strap-on" - Jeff Minter

SLF · Posted: Fri Nov 14, 2003 2:31 pm Post subject:

Apollyon wrote:

Btw, when and were is the "rank" displayed?

Just after you die, when it prompts you to write your initials. It says: "Your rank is" and it ranges from "Not listed - practice recommended" to "Megastar - Mission Completed" (apparently Wink

).

@Thunderer: course you're right, I always mix up Suzanne Vega and Kate Bush as I don't like much either of them while my best friend used to listen to them both a lot.

@MayhemUK: I'd better aim at the third spot then Laughing

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My top games: 1.Hawkeye, 2.Uridium, 3.Creatures II, 4.Delta, 5.Bubble Bobble, 6.Ikari Warriors, 7.Armalyte, 8.Bionic Commando, 9.Archon, 10.Buggy Boy.