Superchase Remix
Hey there, this is my first ever videogame!
A maze game for the Commodore 64 where you try to collect as much treasure as possible, while the Monster of Dungeons tries to stop you! It's also hungry!
You leave a trail while moving, which the Monster follows, but there are ways to make it go astray...
Superchase Remix is called like that because I remixed three different versions of the same game that got published in Compute! magazines and books in the early '80s (the original Vic-20 version was published on October 1982, so exactly 40 years ago).
The game is written in XC=BASIC 3.1, XC stands for "Cross Compiled". Find more details and the documentation on its website.
This game is open-source! See it here!
CREDITS
Anthony Godshall - Original VIC-20 version
Compute! Gazette - Atari version graphics
Cheryl Regena - TI-99/4A version
Download
Install instructions
Development log
- How this thingy came to be...Nov 03, 2022
Comments
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Wow, just found out about this. I knew of the original from the TI-99/4A (note the punctuation!) version, which is the computer I grew up with. I always loved the game, but the code had a bug that caused the monster to get stuck. I analyzed it a few years ago, and re-wrote a SuperChase II in TI Extended BASIC -- though I don't have it released. It adds to the original clever monster AI that tracks you and its own paths (which is where the bug was), and adds more monsters. I've been thinking of doing a re-write in XNA/MonoGame, kind of like what you did here - pretending to be on the old original 8-bit machine! Though the TI-99/4A was actually 16-bit, crazy, huh? (EDIT: Oh wait - you actually did code it for the C-64? I can't believe any form of interpreted BASIC goes this fast - wow. Oh it's a compiled BASIC. Very cool!) Anyways, neat method to the madness of having the monster go faster then calm down (EDIT: I see this is a design from the original Atari version!), and having an exit you must reach rather than ending the level after an arbitrary number of pick ups. I'll have to check out the other 2 original versions to see what helped drive your inspiration.
Hey!! Thank you A TON for your comments, I can see your BIG enthusiasm for this game and its origins, I'm happy I'm not the only one! :)
You know, I was SO SURE it was "TI99-4/A" that I was ready to say "oh no, you got it wrong", BUT... I looked it up, and I stand very humbly corrected, so thank you so so much for that! Now I'll always think of this next time I'm going to mention the TI-99! :D
Of course now I want to see your Extended BASIC version (I used that too, a lot, back in the day!), as well as your future "modern-retro" remake!
Some guy on Facebook who saw my version also suggested to put more than a Monster in the game, but I was really exhausted and wanted to move to something else: I had been working on this, in my spare time, for about 4 months! :) Still, I'm really curious to see the kind of impact that has on the game!
Yeah, XC=BASIC is surprisingly fast, to me at least!
Did you see my source code of this? XC=BASIC is pretty similar to Microsoft QuickBASIC regarding the syntax, so you shouldn't have too much trouble understanding what I did :)
(If my English is weird to you, I'm sorry, I'm from Italy...)
I didn't know this game and it's pretty funny! The lack of high score and lives is unusual, but it's not a real problem for me. The best thing is its immediacy. There's pretty much nothing to learn, there's no real progression to keep track of: you keep playing at your heart's content... and you can waste A LOT OF TIME doing that! :-DDDDD
It's slightly addictive and I like how the sound effects are simple but ... necessary.
P.S.: I played the game on Retrogames' THEC64 (Maxi). Works fine.
Thank you for taking the time to check this out!
Yeah, I wasted some time on it myself while I was trying to finish the game program! :-D
I thought that in 2022 things like lives were just old, not vintage :) There is a penalty when you die, though: your score goes back to what it was when you started the level :-D
As for the high score, I would have liked some online table to be kept, but since there is no network standard for C64s, alas, there is none...
The sound effects are all programmed in XCB, no .sid or things like SEUCK sounds involved... that's the main reason the sounds are simple :-D
Thank you also for testing the game on the THEC64!
Am I missing something? When the monster catches you the score is reset (to the score you had when starting the level). You have infinite tries? No lives, no highscore list? Its a nice game and I would play it more. But somehow these things keep me away from doing so.
Then again its a free game.
Hey there, thank you for checking this out!
I don't think you're missing anything. It's basically a weird remake of an early '80s BASIC game, but still I thought it wouldn't be interesting to have lives and volatile highscores in 2022 (it would have been nice to have an online highscore list but, as this is a Commodore 64 game, there are no standard network capabilities). Yeah, the score does get reset when you get eaten, as I thought at least one penalty had to be in place :)
Exactly, it's a little free game and I'm already happy that people are checking it out, I had zero expectations. I will think about your feedback for my next thingy, so thank you again!
Fun game. Enjoying it a lot.
Happy to hear that! 😊
tedious gameplay. not my thing. 5/10
ahhhh yes... so nice to play!
You know, while working on this, I occasionally felt like the Tetris author, I read that sometimes he had trouble making progress on the game because he wasted time playing it, and I did the same! 😄 Thank you for checking this out!
Great game. Congrats on making your first game!
Thank you, deeply 🙏😊
Bonito juego,gracias
¡Gracias, me alegro de que te haya gustado el juego! 😊
very good
Grazie! <inchino>
Nice game!
Oh wow, thank you so much, I feel honoured, really! 😊
Just a tiny note: the platform is the Commodore 64, not the Spectrum 😄 I understand perfectly why you got confused, it's the font. I drew it myself, I wasn't thinking about the Spectrum at all, but I realized, once I finished, that it reminded the Spectrum a bit 😁
EDIT: oh I see now that the video description mentions the C64, sorry!
Thank you so much for playing the game and making this video! Viva Saberman & Ultimate Play the Game! I used to play Sabre Wulf and Knight Lore back in the day! 😃
Nice game 😁
Well, thank you! 😊
I love minimalist games 😁 May there be more of these.
It's quite an art to do them right, today. Back in 1982 you had to be minimalist 😄
Jokes apart, they can be great and evoke such a great atmosphere with so little...
Congratulations on your first release! I love it!
Grazie! <takes a bow>