[STOT] ST Offline Tournament

ST Offline Tournament

STOT has been running for several years in a dedicated section of Atari-Forum. I had heard others talk about it but, for some reason, I never got involved - something I now look back on with a mix of confusion and regret. Thankfully, I've finally come to my senses and joined in. And I'm absolutely loving it!

So, what is STOT? Simple - it’s an offline gaming tournament. Well, to be more precise, it’s a tournament for ST Gamers organised by three familiar names from Atari-Forum and beyond: Thorn, SSB, and chrisTOS. Games are suggested by the community, and the admins then decide which ones to feature. Each game now runs for a month, and 2025 kicked off with the fantastic racer, FASTER. This month, we’re tackling a puzzler called Chroma Grid, and next month, we're whizzing through space like Luke Skywalker in Star Wars.

My gaming skills are often terrible - an odd thing to admit, considering I run AtariCrypt! Well, I finished near the bottom of the league for January’s FASTER, an incredible Atari STe racer by Jonathan Thomas. Sheesh, there are some seriously good players out there with way quicker reflexes than mine! Thankfully, Chroma Grid is going a bit better for me, but like all puzzlers, it soon pushes my ageing brain cells to their limit. As for Star Wars in March… I’m kind of dreading it - I haven’t played that since my Speccy days!

So, do you fancy getting involved? It’s easy, just create a (free) account on Atari-Forum to play the current game on your Atari ST or an emulator. Then post a photo or screenshot of your score on the forum. That’s all there is to it. I hope this tempts you to join in, play some Atari ST games, and be part of the ST community.

So, click here to access Atari-Forum's STOT section and get gaming - have fun!!

Finally, I recently chatted with Thorn(þ) and asked him some questions about STOT. He went away and came back with responses from all three - so a huge thanks to Thorn, SSB, and chrisTOS for taking the time; I really appreciate it. I hope you’ve enjoyed this, and maybe tempted you to check out the tournament?

I hope so - don’t game alone, be proud of your high scores. Get involved and join in the STOT fun...

How did you guys get the idea for STOT?

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ChrisTOS

If I remember correctly Thorn, SSB and I were talking in #atariscne on IRC and thought how nice it would be to have online gaming either using emulators or real networked Ataris. We got the idea that we could hold a contest similar to the High Score Club in AtariAge. The concept was that we would create themes (eg space shooter/sync scrolling games etc), give them nice names, people would vote for which games to play and we'd play that game. Real hardware or emulator was accepted and we wanted to support new games.

As for the name, it's the ST Offline Tournament. I believe we chose it because it was also a small wordplay on STOS. Plus those Germans do like to be a bit accurate in their descriptions!

SSB

As far as I remember it was an online discussion between Christos, Thorn and myself around 2009. I don't remember the details. The basic idea was: "Hey we like playing ST games. Let's play them for real." We wrote an article for our LowRes online magazine around the time (https://lowresmag.wordpress.com/2009/08/30/that-is-stot-st-offline-tournament/)

þ

Back in the day, I loved to attend the High Score Clubs on Atari Age for the other Atari platforms. I also founded the "Abbuc Bundesliga" a competition where people meet once a month in a chatroom and play an Atari 8-bit game for 1 hour. On the ST there was nothing like that. So during some chats with SSB and Christos the idea of STOT was born. The format was copied from the HSC, but we chose atari-forum.com instead of AtariAge because it's the home of the ST scene.

We stopped some years ago. Because there was a demand on the forum to restart, SSB did a restart, many thanks to the people who requested it and participated in the first round after the restart (Riverpirate, LynxXX) and many thanks to SSB to do the restart. Even if there are only 2-3 gamers, it's worth continuing cause STOT is an indicator that Atari ST gaming is alive. Talking about games is great, but if you really play them and then send a score, that is the definition of active. I play much more ST since the restart. Being Atarian because you buy Atari merch alone is lame, scoring a post on STOT is cool.

Could any games make a return?

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ChrisTOS

We have revisited games in the past but not too often. I am still sore from losing a great score in Starball due to a crash for example. Of course, Xerus (like always) and Lotek obliterated my attempts.

SSB

I personally play 'Virus' and 'Goldrunner' from time to time so another STOT round with them would be welcome. Important is that games have a useful scoring system and no selection menu to keep it easy to track. And no tutorials or "learn how to play" sessions". We all are middle-aged guys now with real life so playing those should be a distraction you can try for a half hour of free time without preparation.

Þ

We played Metrocross at least 2 times. In the wish list for 2026, we could also include games to play again. However, there are so many games left to play in a competition mode, that it's great to give them a try instead of playing the same games a number of times. I would go for one game per year, the ST Classics of the year.

Favourite memories?

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ChrisTOS

There were a lot. The aforementioned Outline events. Cooper released a game just for STOT, D-bug who patched games for the Falcon and Hard disk so that we could play in STOT. There was quite a bit of competition in those events. Starball, Obsession. PS. I missed Nano Cave too.

SSB

The few where my girlfriend and now wife participated. We both like to play 'Rodland' in two-player mode from time to time.

þ

At the outline live STOT competition, I met Christos in person, that was cool. I met SSB a number of times, for 11 months we both lived in Friedrichshafen at the lake of Constance, we had some cool sessions where we played the actual STOT game and SSB explained to me his secret “mouth pockets” receipt: Ready-made mouth pockets and chicken broth from the supermarket and water! Easy, cheap, delicious.

The Super Sprint competition was very close, I scored 2nd, but only very close. In the end, I got so much adrenaline in the final levels, I needed 15 minutes to calm down.

The highlight was the Switchblade II compo where Simon Phipps the author himself sent us self-painted winner certificates with his signature. Was a great sign of respect for us that people see that we try to keep the Atari gaming alive.

Phobia. I won it, I love it. Many complained it was too hard, but I passed level 1.

All the games where I reached a level I never was before, because I had the motivation to get a high score. Apache Flight was great, but I would have given up with level 1 until Wietze sent in a screenshot of level 2 for example.

Any future plans for STOT?

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ChrisTOS

For plans, I don't know, maybe find time to play some games? We were much younger people when we started STOT and with fewer obligations. My favourite moment is the tournament we held at Outline back in 2009. So a repeat of that would have been great. Maybe at a Sommarhack this time. Also since Hatari now supports Falcon, we could think of including a couple of Falcon games in the mix.

SSB

We should keep going as long as players are willing to participate.

þ

Best homebrew game award? Therefore we need a constant number of entries. 2025 is already looking good. The difference to other awards like the one on Atari Age is, that this award is given to active gamers since only people who entered scores would be allowed to vote.

More cooperation with all the Atari gamers on YouTube like yours, Stickhead, Hundgirrid, etc. You guys find the games, we do a STOT round. During the rounds, we could also do some more videos. We need people who try out a game and have the feeling that it's worth doing a competition.

STOT gaming competitions on-site at Atari meetings. Once we did one at an Outline party, I would like to do one at the ADN, GemTOS, SillyVenture, OFAM, ejagfest, and so on. Looking back on the STOT history I also like to mention Xerus. He showed in many competitions that he was the best Atari ST gamer back in the day. Would be great to see him back.

Nano Cave - this is a good example of the STOT philosophy. It was a wish and was a new game, so was prioritised. I tested it before when I played some games on the ADN (the best Atari party in France). There the first two levels were great fun and I liked the visual concept that you have different original designs from all the other Hack versions of the previous years.

So a STOT round was announced 1-2 months later. There we played the game and had fun, but suddenly we found out, that there were so many bugs, that scoring was nearly impossible. Since Nano Cave is such a great game, we would do immediately another round if there would be a new version. (I love Nano Cave so THAT is something I will look forward to - Steve)

ZOG

Grab your joystick!

During my time away (wow, that made me sound like a criminal) I was enjoying videos by many YouTubers - ugh, I hate that expression. Anyhow, people like Trusty, PJ Neiland and those Vertical Blankers have released several amazing Atari ST videos. Go on, click those links and take a look for yourselves - but remember to come back here afterwards.

Earlier in February, Into The Vertical Blank released a massive video about many different ST shooters. One of which was called Zog by Chris Lloyd who designed it using SEUCK by Palace Software - and this acronym stands for Shoot 'Em Up Construction Kit. Now, one thing I did pick up from their video was his American pronunciation of SEUCK. I can't speak for all ST nutters over here in Blighty, but everyone I knew pronounced it as a human sound effect: Schhhhuck!

Ah... Okay, so it was just a few of us crazy fools over here then? Damn, let's move on quick...

Frantically bashing the fire-button like a madman hoping not to die!

Am I getting old and slow?

Chris released Zog in 1990 and it appears to be his one and only shooter 'em up (at least for the Atari ST). The gameplay is typically simple; a vertical-scrolling shooter with nothing flashy or fancy as you might imagine - but this is homebrew stuff we're talking about. The docs are pretty thin on the ground but perfectly explain the gameplay: shoot everything that moves. Even shoot the stuff that doesn't move. And that sums up this perky little shooter very nicely.

As with any similar game, we are positioned near the bottom of the screen with the nasties coming into view at the top. Shoot, dodge and blast everything you can whilst trying not to die. Points are awarded for successfully killing the enemies but you only get three lives - which isn't nearly enough. Thankfully, an extra ship can be earned every 10,000 points.

If... you... survive... long... enough!!

Our ship(s) manoeuvre very spritely, but that doesn't mean avoiding the bullet hell is easy. Well, certainly not for me thanks to my old man's reactions. Fortunately, Zog supports two-player mode which is absolutely superb!! Another cool thing is the use of autofire. Yep, no need to hysterically bash the button and I loved this little 'cheat' a lot if I'm honest.

Right then, it's got to that point where I stop waffling on and show yet another screenshot...

With two gamers playing at the same time things improve drastically!!

Aesthetics

Visually, this is a pretty neat game considering that it isn't commercial and also reminds me somewhat of Frenetic. I've played a few games developed with SEUCK and none will blow you away. However, it looks pretty good and the scrolling is smooth(ish) albeit with a slightly reduced screen size. Enemy sprites move predictably, making their way across your screen briskly as the landscape scrolls - a positive testament to the ability of this underrated development tool.

Sadly, there is no title music and all in-game sound effects are the traditional zaps and zings you've heard before. These YM effects are good but a decent background chiptune would have been a miles better option.

Steve, stop complaining because this is public domain! Sheesh, that idiot fella? Hey, it's screenshot time...

A message you see a lot. Argh, if only the gameplay was better optimised...

The CryptO'pinion?

Let's be honest, I doubt anyone will bother downloading this game any time soon. There are already many ace ST shooters like Lethal Xcess, Flying Shark, SWIV, Goldrunner, or Xenon. Heck, maybe even Chopper X. Well, maybe! ;)

However, Zog was released as public domain, so, with that in mind, I enjoyed it. Embarrassingly, I have to admit that didn't get very far! This is one tough cookie and I would have loved any kind of optimisation to its insane design. No matter how I try to avoid the stray enemy bullets, I always end up dying quickly. Which is hardly entertaining, is it?

Having said all that, it's a totally different story as a two-player shooter. With a friend, the hoard-blasting gameplay is fantastic. In fact, I'd go as far as saying this shooter feels like it was meant to be played this way.

So, how should I rate Zog? That's right, a slight improvement to the "CryptO'pinion" as I shall now provide a score (let me know whether you think this is a good idea). Firstly, my greetings to the Fulton boys for their enthusiasm by (wickedly) bringing this game to my attention. It's never a dull moment finding something new and I had lots of fun!

I'm gonna rate it a respectable 65% for dual-gaming. Knock off 10% if you're hammering that fire button alone.

What, you disagree with me? Then get it downloaded from Atarimania and let me know what you think in the comments below? Finally, go and check out Atarilegand for a ton of other SEUCK games listed.

Goldrunner

Robb says wow!

It's been a while since I posted something cool in our Music section. So, I went looking for something extra special and then I remembered this gem: a "Dark Rock" remake of the Rob Hubbard original. This completely blew me away!!

Okay, I'll award 100 points to those who can answer this question: What game is this music from? (Noooo, don't look at the post title hehe. Pah, never mind). All credit to Yoshitaka Hojo who you can check out on Soundcloud :)

I'm on the lookout now for other "dark rock" or "darker" remakes of ST tunes...

PP's Enhanced Games

New game updates!

Everyone knows Peter Putnik has adapted hundreds of games for hard disk installation. These include extras, like bug fixes, TOS compatibility, 4MB patching, Mega STe/Falcon support, etc. However, some are also super-charged with cool coding that utilises the Blitter coprocessor and DMA for audio that will blow your mind.

Are you interested being better on your Atari STe? You should be!

So I thought it would be nice to have a brief round-up of the enhanced games as a compilation here on AtariCrypt. Oids and Uridium are particularly impressive because both improve tremendously on their original counterparts. I also enjoyed playing my own music during a game of Xenon 2 (you can convert your own music).

There is something here for everyone and I hope you find this useful. Let me know what you think...

Let's play...

Okay, let's take a look at some of these enhanced games that you can download and play right now...

 + Xenon II - updated for the Atari STe and features DMA streamed music. Turn up the volume!
 + Cannon Fodder - enhance this lame port with your chosen DMA streamed music.
 + Prince Of Persia - allow the DMA hardware lurking inside the Atari STe to replay the game's sounds.

  

Did you enjoy that? Well, here are three enhanced FTL games that are nicely improved...

 + Dungeon Master - far cleaner samples are heard thanks to the DMA hardware within the Atari STe.
 + Chaos Strikes Back - Again, the DMA hardware allows cleaner sample playback for this awesome sequel.
 + Oids - the potential for double framerates deliver a smoother experience when rescuing the stickmen.

  

Right, let's take a peek at three more which aren't exactly favoured well by the average ST gamer...

 + Jinks - this jerky game is weird but at least it now uses the smoother STe scrolling [original disks still required]
 + Menace - I cannot thank Peter enough for replacing that horrendous yellow ship with a white one!
 + Uridium - Blitter-boost that sluggish ship and add DMA-streamed background music while you're at it!

  

Now let's take a little run-around with these three you might never have expected to boot up...

 + Giana Sisters - this Zamuel_a enhanced game now also comes with optional DMA streamed music!!
 + Hard 'n' Heavy - gone is that embarrassing flip-screen gameplay, all thanks to cool Blitter programming.
 + Road Runner - Improved and also Blitterized for faster scrolling - but it's still a rubbish game (sorry!)

  

Okay, let's end in style! Here are two ST classics and (wait for it) a PC classic too! Ooh, nice...

 + Goldrunner - Some might not like this, but I love hitting the F3 key to disable that fuzzy speech!
 + Gauntlet - this sluggish hack 'n slash arcade game gets big improvements but still needs extra CPU grunt.
 + Wolfenstein 3D - Ray's jaw-dropping FPS now has bugs removed with decent save game support.

  

Goldrunner

Fuzzy speech, be gone!

I love Gold Runner; it's a technical masterpiece by legend, Steve Bak. He proved when in the hands of a talented programmer, the Atari ST is more than capable of producing wondrous results. Other (lame) programmers would whine and complain, but Mr Bak simply got the job done. Perfectly every time I might add.

Okay, honest time, I'm terrible at this ultra fast-paced shoot 'em up (shock!!). Plus, I was never fond of that dreaded fuzzy speech. It was fine back in the day and is humorously entertaining but it soon wears thin and distracts during gameplay. Perhaps I'm old and grumpy but I've never really liked it. Sorry!

Good news - Peter Putnik has updated Goldrunner for hard drive installation and an option to disable the speech!! All you gotta do is press the F3 key so clickety-click and download this update to the ST classic.