| Posted By
Luca
on 2023-02-25
 |  Sir Knight (Loves) C16
 Thee needeth not 32kB to saveth thy beloc'd princess!
C64Mark, the main and most important C16/Plus4 streamer known to date, the versatile C64 and C16 game developer with an attitude for the player-torturing games, the naive consumer of exotic flavoured beers, is back for his C16 sophomore production, dedicated to the not-that-famous Tynesoft classic Sir Knight title.
Basically, Sir Knight C16 fixes the debatable usage of the bitmap graphics which forced the noble predecessor to only work with a minimum memory of 32kB. C64Mark's complete rewriting of the game moves the field of action onto a less wasting screen RAM environment and softsprites, to make your C16 the perfect scenario for your own medieval heroic tale of jumping, dodging, running and princesses-saving.
As sometimes happens, less is more: in less memory, here come more levels (30!) with related names, the proper joystick control it deserved, a vanity board to start a challenge against both your and the other players, a real ending and much more! The addition of well greeted music, jingles and sfx is once again a worthy dmx87's affair.
Who is't'll succede to saveth the princess and triumph in the hisc're board?
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Posted By
Csabo
on 2023-02-22
11:48:30
| Re: Sir Knight (Loves) C16
This version is so much more polished than the original! Plus actually 16K. I always wondered why the original wasn't 16K compatible (almost a death-sentence for games back then), it never occurred to me that it's running in graphics mode. Would have been a simple check 
And - for me - this is still completely unplayable. I guess I suck at it? I just tried the final release, played 5 rounds. All 5 ended the same - dead on the first level in less than a minute. Once I was literally at the end and a fireball still killed me!...
I'm sure hardcore gamers, or people who spent a ton of time practising will do better, but I would honestly love to see some real, first-time reactions. Plop someone down in front of this who have never seen the game a let them have a go
Nice polished product, congrats for the release!
Edit: https://imgur.com/a/JRkwfpO
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Posted By
C64Mark
on 2023-02-25
06:40:41
| Re: Sir Knight (Loves) C16
Thanks Csabo.
The first level actually mimics the first level of the original which I agree is really tough for a first level. Although once you figure out the technique, it becomes second nature.
Tip: run straight away, jump fireball, immediately back-jump over arrow, immediately jump over the next fireball..... then watch out for the fireball appearing near the edge of the screen 
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Posted By
Rüdiger
on 2023-02-25
15:42:18
| Re: Sir Knight (Loves) C16
Very good work, thank you very much for that.
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Posted By
Csabo
on 2023-02-25
09:02:44
| Re: Sir Knight (Loves) C16
I was so flabbergasted, that I asked a couple of guys to try and see if they can make it past the first level.
The original game draw some comparisons to Punchy and Robin to the Rescue. One comment said "this is the old-school Spectrum way: make the player suffer so they play longer". KiCHY made it past, but died immediately on level 2, and when he saw that the minimum to get on the high score list is 5000 points, he gave up. Gaia made it past as well, so I asked him: "wow, you cleared it right away?" and he was like "nope, after like 10 minutes". IMHO that's way too much time to invest on a single level for a casual gamer... The first level should be easy enough to clear, and enticing enough to draw the player in. My go-to examples of "difficulty curve done right" are the official Nintendo titles (but, yeah, I mean, comparing those to C16 games isn't fair ). This is also why I completely reprogrammed the game logic in Stop The Express: the original difficulty curve was too hard.
But what do I know, don't listen to me
Instead, watch me actually make it (and then give up on level 2):
https://imgur.com/a/XTLVurp Although not recorded, each time Sir Knight is killed by an arrow or a fireball, imagine a loud curse word being yelled in the background
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Posted By
Lavina
on 2023-02-25
09:33:45
 | Re: Sir Knight (Loves) C16
hmm for the 5th try I went till the very right end of the screen. But died instantly there. I repeatd it 3 times in a row. What am I doing wrong? I also jumped up to pull (?) the rope of the bell (?) but nothing.
Edit: Success, I just had to take another small step till the real end on the right side. :)) Yes, it's hard, it was like 15 tries for the 1st screen. Almost instant death on the 2nd screen.
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Posted By
C64Mark
on 2023-02-25
10:03:17
| Re: Sir Knight (Loves) C16
Once you learn the strategy for each screen it's usually easy to repeat. Don't want to make it too easy with only 30 levels
Both of the testers have completed the game already. Maybe I need testers who aren't as good at these sorts of games
Some of the levels are really easy once you know them. Some are just easy anyway. Level 2 is actually very easy once you know the strategy.
Long play here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Nm4PgQigtQ
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Posted By
Lavina
on 2023-02-25
15:28:19
| Re: Sir Knight (Loves) C16
What's more interesting is that I now tried the original and could not figure out how to solve the first screen, the same strategy does not seem to work here
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Posted By
Luca
on 2023-02-26
14:01:59
| Re: Sir Knight (Loves) C16
Tough like stone mostly due to the needing to jump over the objects only when your knight is on top of the jump, yet frequently inducing for a one more play condition! Well done C64Mark and dmx87! Most of all, I appreciate the spirit behind the whole product, which denotes a clear passion for the machine <3
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