I'm sure many of you remember the 1987 game 'Wizball': A game which was coded by Jon Hare and Chris Yates (Sensible Software legends), with music by Peter Clarke, and Martin Galway(C64 version) for the C64, ZX Spectrum, Amiga and Atari ST. Well if you do remember it and want some great Wizz news, then you'll be pleased to know that at some point in the near future, Olivier Cyranka will be releasing the Wizball Halloween themed inspiration of ZauberBall for the Atari XL/XE!
Here is what the creator says about this Halloween themed game, that can be downloaded and played after the ABBUC Software Contest 2023 has ended with results announced. "Zauberball is a new interpretation of the well-known C64 game Wizball. In the start screen the spacebar will reveal short instructions. Goal of the game: Colorize all six game levels with three colours". So yes if you loved Wizball back in the day, you are sure to like this game when it's released in the near future.
https://gury.atari8.info/detail.php?id=6128&src=2&c=ch=z
ReplyDeleteIt almost enrages me to see Wizball videos on the net where people playing it have no idea what they are doing. :( I suppose the activation of the "no bounce" control extra at around 2:14 was a sheer coincidence. And I mean, how to activate your extras is the very first sentence in the "getting started" screen. If you realize, something shouldn't quite be like this, why not read the "getting started" screen, before making a video?! This particular thing (activate extras in Wizball) is like common retro computing knowledge since 1987 and this is a retro computing website, boy I am so triggered... :(
ReplyDeleteI was thinking exactly the same. Wiggle the joystick NOW, NOW!!! ;-)
ReplyDeleteWatching him muck about trying not to be killed, while the "extras" icon was flashing at the bottom of the screen, was beyond frustrating. If the video creator doesn't get his act together, he risks being recruited as a games journalist. :)
ReplyDeleteAs for the "halloween theme", I would have preferred a straight-up conversion, faithful to the original. And perhaps the "pipe" sequence (when entering a level) could have done with some polish. But still, it's an impressive piece of work.
Actually, I have tried Zauberball and I think the gameplay is quite nice and addictive, once you got into it. It is just too bad that you can‘t see this from the above video. Particularly, the two player team mode is quite nice. Maybe, for the time beeing, one of the C64 Wizball play through videos on Youtube may help to figure out game play? For successful playing, you should select the first extra that stops the ball bouncing, and then you need the third extra which enables the satellite. Then you can start collecting color. To enable a flashing extra you need to wiggle the stick left/right, or like I prefer, do a short circular stick movement counter clockwise, e.g. from 12 to 6 o‘clock. But that is all in the getting started screen, when you push space bar on the start screen in Zauberball.
ReplyDeletePlease take note that the release version of Zauberball'23 is now available:
ReplyDeletehttps://forums.atariage.com/topic/356170-zauberball23-release-version-abbuc-swc2023/
The release version has also some new features and graphics.