Space Zot

Zot o'clock

There are two things I love, my family and. No, I meant beer and travelling through the cosmos!! Do you remember when I roamed (and completed) the vast floppy disk universe in Cosmos Chronicles? Yeah, I spent many hours chatting to shady strangers in World's End bar, and loved every second of it.

But there is some bad news: the bar’s about to run out of booze. As an alliance pilot, I’ve been called in to rescue the situation by retrieving precious cargo (beer!) from a damaged freighter somewhere in the Caissel asteroid belt. The fate of every thirsty patron depends on my flying skills, so there’s no time to waste!

Space Zot, coded in 2023 using GFA Basic by Shaoth (the chap behind the brilliant roguelike Nano Cave), is one of those games that looks like one thing but turns out to be another. At first glance, you’d think it’s a shooter, but it leans more towards something like R0x - a game of avoidance? There are no blasters or lasers; your mission is to grab as many beers as possible. As you can imagine, this is a goal I can easily get behind.

Of course, space isn’t just full of free booze; it’s also packed with rocks hurtling down your lovely SC1224 display. You’ll need sharp reflexes to weave through the space junk. By the third level, things get hairy - faster rocks, trickier angles, and a screen so cluttered you’re gasping for breathing room. Thankfully, the controls are tight and responsive, which is essential when survival depends entirely on dodging rather than blasting.

I first played Space Zot on another world, and now I’ve been enjoying it back home on my Atari STe (a pretty bold statement that I hope doesn't confuse anyone). This is a cracking little game, and even if I’m a couple of years late, it comes highly recommended by yours truly. Right, it's time for another beer run...

• There is a free download at itch.io, and Atarimania has a copy too.
• As the Blitter is being used, Space Zot goes into the Enhanced Games list :)
• Hmm, you were confused? Then look at this screenshot from my Cosmos Chronicles quest.

You get points for all pick-ups, especially the beers.

Collect the letters for an extra life.

This was my second attempt, and I reached stage 6. Can you beat me?

Cosmos Chronicles

Gamopat goodness!

Hearing of new games is always exciting sadly, it always feels that other vintage computers get the support that our 16-bit fuji lacks (hey, whatever happened to AGT). Anyhow, I've been following the Cosmos Chronicles on/off for many moons but it's originally a French Gamopat game - that means I understood now't as I know little beyond "bonjour" and "jeu"! So I eagerly awaited an English version I could playtest.

Well, you knew this was coming, the international edition of Cosmos Chronicles is out. It's beta v0.95 so it may feature a few problems in translation - but that's nothing your feedback cannot fix! I've played a little after work today and, I must say it's impressive. You might say it's Ultima-impressive; very much worth the wait!!

The game was coded in GFA Basic, a tool that never ceases to impress. The credits are...

•     Programming: Laurent Fontaine [Dr. Floyd]
•     Music: Nic Alderton [Count Zero]
•     Sound effects: Laurent Fontaine [Dr. Floyd]
•     Visuals: Laurent Fontaine [Dr. Floyd] & Francois Pino [Grostonton]

Wanna see a couple of screenshots about the background story? Yeah, come on and gander at these babies...

It's a bit "empty" and soulless I thought. Are you still interested?

I'd say so! This is a strange baseline but carry on scrolling...

Frontier, Ultima, Sundog, whaaaaat?

I instantly got that Ultima V vibe but there is more to this game than first meets the eye. Roguelike comes to the Atari ST and what's more, it looks the part with a style I love. Yes, it does draw heavily on the imagination but that's the best way - I don't want anything "better" as this would bloat and spoil the whole experience. Also, I cannot help but mention the audio surprise when first booting up - thank you Count Zero!!

The game is completely free to download. However, please consider contributing a little of your hard-earned cash to help support Dr Floyd/Gamopat for the hard graft that's obviously gone into the production of this tremendous game. I truly mean this, because the game is promising!! I'm hugely excited about it :)

Here is the download link with a copy & paste of the basics. Plus some of my fabulous screenshots...

The whole universe in your ATARI ST: 200 billion galaxies, hundreds of billions of stars and planets in each galaxy. The possibility of visiting every patch of grass or rock on every planet, houses, caves, the ultimate open world. The ability to eat, drink, poop, shower, repair your ship, booze in the pub, fight in arenas, play in casinos and arcades, pray to the Gods, buy condoms, go on space trips, slalom between asteroids, see things no one has ever seen at the edge of space, to infinity & beyond. 

 

The uncompromising #ROGUELIKE

- Persistent universe

- You only have one true life

- There's no going back. You die, it's over... just like in real life ;) 

 

A combined tribute to the following

- ULTIMA IV and V, for gameplay & visual rendering (which draws heavily on the imagination)

- ELITE and ELITE FRONTIER (for the open world and space trading)

- SUNDOG (for futuristic adventure and numerous gameplay possibilities/interactions) 

 

Atari computer compatibility

- ATARI STF

- ATARI STE (supports Blitter)

- ATARI MEGA ST

- ATARI MEGA STE 8-16Mhz

- ATARI TT (a little fast)

- FALCON 030 (too fast?)

So, first things first, we need to seek out the farm as there's trouble afoot!

As you can see, these aren't friendly soldiers at all and kill your family.

Look inside the house for a weapon and let's kick their arse!

The English breaks up a little in places but you get the general gist. Hey, check out that rabbit!

The family are slain but there's no time to mourn as we go looking for anything useful.

Yeah, I found a cave and hoped for treasure but all I found were demons!