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Nevets (Compute's Gazette)

In Nevets, you are transported to the Land of Adnerb, where your mission is to protect four power capsules against the ever encroaching Nevets. Your only defense against the thieving Nevets is a turret gun.
The article for this game can be found on page 52 of Compute's Gazette Issue 10 (April 1984)

Why TAS This Game?

The continuation of TASing games from my all-time favorite magazine, Compute's Gazette. This makes my 76th TAS from this series.
Early in the magazine's life, games were either really good or barely interesting. I never called any of these games terrible...because they were all that I had, mostly. I didn't play this game a lot, but I do believe I typed it in on the Vic-20 first, since my Commodore 64 was coming later that year for Christmas.

Game Difficulty and Ending

I don't understand this. The article states that there are 40 levels of play. Other games, from this series, actually ended in a good way to clearly identify an ending. Here...the game keeps on going. So I'm calling for an ending to this game, according to the article.

Effort In TASing (Not BOTed)

Because this game is very long and slow to play, I went through this game once to see if I can figure out the mechanics and tricks to speeding it up. Well, I determined a lot and re-did the entire TAS to save 2362 frames! This was accomplished over a 2 months, since I wasn't that eager to get back to this game.

Human Comparison

Couldn't find one for the C64, but here is the same game...ported for the Vic-20 from Compute's Gazette.
Darkman425: Nevets backwards is Dracula, I'm almost certain. Just to be sure, I gotta claim this for judging.
Darkman425: Sorry folks, Nevets backwards wasn't Dracula after all.
The game seems straightforward enough that the optimization looks good. Even then, knowing that a second pass saved over 2000 frames makes the optimization seem a bit more complex than initial impressions would give.
Accepting to Standard.
fsvgm777: Processing.

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Posted: 6/19/2024 3:41 AM
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TASVideoAgent
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This topic is for the purpose of discussing #9134: nymx's C64 Nevets in 17:37.20
Posted: 6/19/2024 12:25 PM
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DrD2k9
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I wonder if Brenda is Steven’s wife.
Posted: 6/19/2024 12:47 PM
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nymx
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DrD2k9 wrote:
I wonder if Brenda is Steven’s wife.
It took me a minute to figure out what you were getting at. Now I know...LOL Do you know Brenda?
I recently discovered that if you haven't reached a level of frustration with TASing any game, then you haven't done your due diligence. ---- SOYZA: Are you playing a game? NYMX: I'm not playing a game, I'm TASing. SOYZA: Oh...so its not a game...Its for real? ---- Anybody got a Quantum computer I can borrow for 20 minutes? Nevermind...eien's 64 core machine will do. :) ---- BOTing will be the end of all games. --NYMX
Posted: 6/19/2024 1:22 PM
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DrD2k9
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nymx wrote:
DrD2k9 wrote:
I wonder if Brenda is Steven’s wife.
It took me a minute to figure out what you were getting at. Now I know...LOL Do you know Brenda?
Strangely enough, I’m currently sitting at a funeral, and one of the funeral home workers is named Brenda.
Posted: 6/19/2024 6:13 PM
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jeff_town
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I went reading the BASIC source and either I'm overlooking something (likely) or the code to actually increase difficulty on level up is .. not there. The main level cycling code is at line 175: 
  175 poke f,32:poke k,32:poke q,32
  180 f=1944:k=f:g=1:l=g:for x=1084 to 2004 step 40:poke x,32
  185 next:gosub 950:yy=yy+1:if yy=10 then yy=1:e=e-(e*.5):j=j-(j*.5)
Related variables:
  • w: printed as the LEVEL. Not otherwise used
  • yy: number of nevets per level, cycles from 1 to 9
  • e, j: numbers (initially 8 and 16) that are HALVED every time yy cycles back to 1. Not otherwise used.
There are also 2 copies of the joystick reading code (line 100 and line 1000), both used. one handles diagonals and the fire button, the other does not. huh. If that's right, then arguably the "game loop" ends when the number of nevets resets back to 1. The exact pattern won't repeat because RNG, but there's no increase in difficulty.
Posted: 6/19/2024 6:17 PM
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nymx
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jeff_town wrote:
I went reading the BASIC source and either I'm overlooking something (likely) or the code to actually increase difficulty on level up is .. not there. The main level cycling code is at line 175: 
  175 poke f,32:poke k,32:poke q,32
  180 f=1944:k=f:g=1:l=g:for x=1084 to 2004 step 40:poke x,32
  185 next:gosub 950:yy=yy+1:if yy=10 then yy=1:e=e-(e*.5):j=j-(j*.5)
Related variables:
  • w: printed as the LEVEL. Not otherwise used
  • yy: number of nevets per level, cycles from 1 to 9
  • e, j: numbers (initially 8 and 16) that are HALVED every time yy cycles back to 1. Not otherwise used.
There are also 2 copies of the joystick reading code (line 100 and line 1000), both used. one handles diagonals and the fire button, the other does not. huh. If that's right, then arguably the "game loop" ends when the number of nevets resets back to 1. The exact pattern won't repeat because RNG, but there's no increase in difficulty.
Very interesting. I guess I've become lazy. I should have looked at that; however, someone could have brought up the article's mention of Level 40. So, I took the safe route. On the other hand, that makes sense why it didn't really behave any different...except for the number of Nevets showing up.
I recently discovered that if you haven't reached a level of frustration with TASing any game, then you haven't done your due diligence. ---- SOYZA: Are you playing a game? NYMX: I'm not playing a game, I'm TASing. SOYZA: Oh...so its not a game...Its for real? ---- Anybody got a Quantum computer I can borrow for 20 minutes? Nevermind...eien's 64 core machine will do. :) ---- BOTing will be the end of all games. --NYMX
Posted: 7/24/2024 3:08 PM
Post subject: Movie published
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TASVideoAgent
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This movie has been published. The posts before this message apply to the submission, and posts after this message apply to the published movie. ---- [6058] C64 Nevets by nymx in 17:37.20