Reviews

Review by Onewing all reviews by Onewing

Good: Offers at least five minutes of gameplay
Bad: I wish I had my five minutes back
What kind of grass were they smoking? Apparently ASCII?
Comments:
Master Lenman and Deathlord?s Train Shooter is a solid concept, but lacks in actual implementation. I enjoyed the ASCetic scenery and once enemies come in, it does get somewhat challenging, providing some fun. It?s a good entry, but just lacks actual entertainment.

The controls aren?t bad, but can get very confusing when having to switch between them. Having the accelerate and break keys as far apart as A and B on the keyboard is probably the major design flaw in the control scheme.

Artistically, the game meets the TINS requirements by providing both a train and railroad that obviously the game was designed around. If anything, the graphics are the main stimulus of the game. It?s kind of funny, since obviously it is programmer?s art and the fact that it is actually pleasurable.

Technically, the game obviously uses ASCII art and I have to give +1 (which makes the final score go from a 3 to a 4) for making the game entirely out of it. Yet, the help screen, the other technical requirement, wasn?t nearly as appealing as the rest of the game visually and appears more like looking at a technical manual. It?s just not user friendly, so minus a point there.

Genre-wise, the time requirement affects the game in terms of score, but it could be taken out with little consequence to the gameplay. Considering that, I just can?t give too high a score for the genre.

Add some bloops and bleeps for some background music and I probably could?ve bumped the overall score!

Scores: Overall 2 Artistical 3 Technical 4 Genre 2

Review by miran all reviews by miran

Some nice use of ASCII art but overall not very exciting and the gfx make my eyes hurt.

Scores: Overall 3 Artistical 2 Technical 3 Genre 3

Review by NunoMartinez all reviews by NunoMartinez

This is a good game. Nice ASCII graphics except the background. Good concept. It will be a better game with more misions and some music... (sorry the lack of words)

Scores: Overall 3 Artistical 4 Technical 4 Genre 3

Review by guilt all reviews by guilt

A nice, well ASCII textured game ... Has a nice feel to it :) It's fun to shoot around ... and just enjoy the scenery! :)

Scores: Overall 3 Artistical 5 Technical 5 Genre 4

Review by Darksoll all reviews by Darksoll

This game is good. the ASCII is cool.
the objective of the game is reach the end of the level. in order to do this you have to defend the train and sometimes charge some fuel.
The game's not finished yet, there are more tutorials than missions. the ambushes seem to don't work yet ;-).
regardless i liked it.
the sound effects are ok, but what happened to music?. i'd love to see complete version of this game with cool music!.

I think this game would be better if: it had more missions, music.

Scores: Overall 2 Artistical 3 Technical 3 Genre 2

Review by graue all reviews by graue

Very nice. Excellent use of ASCII art; I loved the letter backgrounds. Concept was quite fun and original. I hope to see this finished sometime.

Scores: Overall 4 Artistical 5 Technical 5 Genre 3

Review by Onewing all reviews by Onewing

Good: Fulfills TINS requirements really well
Bad: Missing key game features
Best ending. Ever.
Comments:
I really enjoyed this game, even if it is a bit?strange. The constant barrage of ?frozen explosions?? and pressing keys really makes for some exciting play. Add a little music, sound effects and a title screen, and it would be a complete game. I?ve beaten it on medium and still working on hard. The fact that I?m still playing makes it a quality game. Good job.

Overall: It?s fun and functional, but lacking in a lot of polish that would distinguish it as a game. In this instance, the ASCII art is kind of jarring, and real train/sprite bitmaps would better suffice. I?m giving it a 3.

Artistic: Bleh, anybody walking by would say it is ugly. 2.

Technical: Yeah, you got ASCII art, but I don?t think it fits very well. However, the garbage thrower is awesome and balances out my dislike of your ASCII ?talent?. The help screen is really good and the game is functional. I?d say 4.25, but I can?t, so 4 it is!

Genre: Bing! We have a winner. This game is rocking with both time advancement and focus. It?d be a 5, if perhaps the game changed somewhat with the times. 4 it is.

Scores: Overall 3 Artistical 2 Technical 4 Genre 4

Review by Lenman all reviews by Lenman

HTL seems to be a finished game that entertained me for some time. You move along the rails, defusing bombs and killing enemies as you go. There is only one problem with the gameplay: It's always the same! It was fun to test out the different weapons, I especially enjoyed the ASCII garbage thrower, and the different difficulty levels add some gaming value to the game. But still, noone wants to spend ca. 15 minutes killing the same enemies with the same weapons all the time. I will give 3 as an overall rating because it was fun to play but lacks variety.

The artistic part is ok, the graphics are average and the train theme fits well into the game. The change from one track direction to another is not so pretty and the enemy graphics are a little boring, so I will give 3 points.

The technical part was handled well, the game works and I did not encounter any bugs. The help is screen is well-done, but there could have been more/nicer ASCII art. 4 technical points.

For the genre part, time is an essential part of the game as you need lots of it to reach the end. But seriously, the time theme is put into a nice story and I will give 3 points for it.

Scores: Overall 3 Artistical 3 Technical 4 Genre 3

Review by miran all reviews by miran

This game could be a lot better with a good movement scheme. As it is, it's very difficult to play, although I suppose you get used to it after a while. The graphics and the ASCII art is nothing special. The one thing that stands out in this game is the help screen which is quite good.

Scores: Overall 2 Artistical 2 Technical 3 Genre 2

Review by NunoMartinez all reviews by NunoMartinez

This game is hard to play and I find it boring... The ASCII train is beautiful work but the movement is... well, the train "jumps" some times! The ASCII garbage thrower is a nice weapon but I dislike the other. (Sorry for the lack of words).

Scores: Overall 2 Artistical 3 Technical 3 Genre 4

Review by guilt all reviews by guilt

Wow.. i was totally scared looking at those ominous lookin ghoul like creatures crossing the tracks and pulverising my engine ... The game is a great shoot 'em game :) Just had fun aiming around and getting 4-5 of those things in a single shot :) Of course.. the timing had to be correct!

A nice looking game, featuring great ASCII art and well playable! :)

Scores: Overall 3 Artistical 5 Technical 5 Genre 5

Review by Darksoll all reviews by Darksoll

In this game you control aome kinda ASCII strange ship.
The objective of the game is to defend a train trough time.
it starts on year 0 and finishes on year 2006.
in this game there's only one enemy, it's kinda abstract, i don't really know what is it.
you can kill them with three kind of weapons: Standard gun, Erradicator Beam(the same as the previous one, but with a larger range), and the ASCII Garbage(Hahaaha, that's a good one).
in some places of the railroad there are bombs, and you have to deactivate them before the train passes. if the enemies or bombs hit the train you lose fate points(you start with 100 of them). if the fate points reach 0, you lose.
The game itself is great, simple and fun, but sometimes it turns repetitive, specially after 1000 years.....

I think this game would be better if:
mmmm.... time would pass faster. and there's no music!!, remember music is good and easy to implement, it companies the player trough the game.

Sorry for my bad english.

Scores: Overall 3 Artistical 3 Technical 3 Genre 4

Review by graue all reviews by graue

I find this game extremely difficult, even on the so-called "easy" setting. It's an endless deluge of monsters, and reloading takes so long! On the plus side, I like the metaphorical concept, combining trains and time. The ASCII art was also interesting.

Scores: Overall 2 Artistical 5 Technical 3 Genre 4

Review by Onewing all reviews by Onewing

Good: You included a game I suggested!
Bad: I ran out of Tylenol. 
Do I really care about the old lady?
Comments:
It?s a text-based game! I can?t really call that?ASCII art. While there are some fun mini-games, I?m just not thrilled by this game.

Overall: It works, that?s got to count for something. I dub you 2!

Artisitic: The train at the beginning is kind of good, but I?ve seen better in the other TINS games? The blur affect when the help screen is nice. Gotta say another 2.

Technical: Little ASCII, so you get 1/2 point there. Help screen(s) is good, two points there. Game engine works, ? point there. That?d be a 3.

Genre: 3. Nothing else to say, really.

Scores: Overall 2 Artistical 2 Technical 3 Genre 3

Review by Lenman all reviews by Lenman

I really liked the story approach, so you actually know *why* you should even bother to try to stop the train in time. But on the other hand, time is hindering the gameplay - if you really want to be as fast as possible, you will just repeatedly play the simplest games (arrows/alphabet) until you stop the train. There is no point in playing any of the harder games from a 'genre' point of view, so I will give 3 points for genre.

From a 'gameplay' point of view, the minigames are entertaining for a while, but some of them are just not challengin enough to be fun (that is, if you are not a toddler). The temporarily entertaining ones are not what I would call 'addictive' and get boring after a short time. That makes 3 'overall' points.

The artistic part... The graphics are limited to the (nice, btw) train image on the title screen, so I will only give 2 points.

There is a good help screen for every game and the ASCII art looks nice. The technical part was well-done, the game is well-programmed and runs well. Well, I will give 4 technical points then.

Scores: Overall 3 Artistical 2 Technical 4 Genre 3

Review by miran all reviews by miran

Quite an average game in all respects. Some of the minigames are actually fun but others are almost annoying. The ASCII art is minimal but nice - I like the train :)

Scores: Overall 2 Artistical 2 Technical 2 Genre 3

Review by guilt all reviews by guilt

A nice li'l collection of mini games... Tried my hand at cows and bulls.. was very confused apparently that i ended up losing it everytime :) The game is ascii art, and i like the way it's garbled up when you lose :) very very retro!

Scores: Overall 4 Artistical 4 Technical 5 Genre 4

Review by Darksoll all reviews by Darksoll

I love minigame-based games. This is one of them. you have to stop a train before something rally bad happens....
in order to slow down and stop the train you have to play some minigames. they are simple but fun. There are five minigames, some of them are kinda confusing, but they're right. The ASCII art is ok.
Well, i don't have much to say about this game, i liked it, i think it's cool, but something rally unfair happened first time i played. i read the story("an elderly lady..."), but while i read the story the time was passing, so i lost about half a minute reading the story, and that's not fair, not fair at all.
regardless the game is great, and i like it.

I think this game would be better if: mmmm... a menu would be fine. timer should start first time you press home, this way is not so unfair ;-). and another thing that allegroids seems to always forget.... MUSIC. I don't like to play games in silence, please add music to your games!!!. Believe me, it's easy ;-). Just download a MIDI from any commercial game, classical music, tv-series or whatever, any music will do!.

Scores: Overall 3 Artistical 4 Technical 4 Genre 4

Review by ahuillet all reviews by ahuillet

A very interesting game.

The requirements are fulfilled : the theme is indeed time, there is a train, a help screen, and some ASCII art.

Now about the marks :

Time was correctly used but not in a unusual/original way. The train is a central part of the not-really-existing scenario.
This gives us a 3/5 for genre.

The help screen is here and does its work, but it could've been improved, as could the whole game interface. The ASCII art is nice though. Therefore I'll go for 3/5 as artistic mark.
Technically, this game unfortunately only deserves 2/5.

Overall, the game is an average-good TINS entry, and can be distracting for one hour or two. 4/5 as overall score for the consistency, and the great idea of minigames.

Scores: Overall 3 Artistical 3 Technical 2 Genre 4

Review by Onewing all reviews by Onewing

Good: It?s a puzzle game! I think?
Bad: Trying to find what?s good.
Are those tetris pieces?
Comments:
Okay. I know there is a game here. There?s got to be. But what is it? This is the first game I?ve ever played where the puzzle is to actually figure out what the game is! Is that a paradox? Whatever the case, this game doesn?t deserve very high ratings. If there were a help screen or readme, possibly this game would do a lot better. Trying to figure it out on your own is just frustrating. I think it has something to do with delivering the Tetris-like pieces, but I?m not sure what to do and it?s really hard to get another piece due to the camera. Thanks for adding the S key to speed up to your own death!

Overall: Read ?Comments?. One.

Artistic: I?ll give you 2. See, I AM a nice guy.

Technical: Boo! Neither requirements done and game engine is poor. I have no choice. One point (and if there were a lower score, that?d be given)

Genre: There?s a genre to this game? I didn?t know. One.

Scores: Overall 1 Artistical 2 Technical 1 Genre 1

Review by BAF all reviews by BAF

I didn't really get the game... buggy collision detection in the first part, then after that... you can't really do much at all.

Scores: Overall 1 Artistical 2 Technical 2 Genre 2

Review by miran all reviews by miran

I couldn't figure out what you're supposed to do (move Tetris blocks from point A to point B?). What does the train have to do with this? I couldn't find the in-game help screen and there's no readme to explain things. The fact that the rectangle you control keeps getting stuck and the plain graphics made me not try for very long.

Scores: Overall 1 Artistical 2 Technical 1 Genre 1

Review by guilt all reviews by guilt

I thought that the music was very "cute" :) It's tough to position your guy between the narrow path ... but as you move along, you'll get used to the controls :)

Scores: Overall 3 Artistical 3 Technical 3 Genre 4

Review by Darksoll all reviews by Darksoll

This game is strange, i don't get it, you control some rectangle, but when you get to the end of the level you lose the control of the rectangle and you can't do anything more!.
i didn't found any readme nor in-game help that explains something. and there were no ASCII art at all.

I think it would be better if: it were complete.

Scores: Overall 1 Artistical 1 Technical 1 Genre 1

Review by ahuillet all reviews by ahuillet

Unfortunately this game is not finished. The idea was good, but almost everything lacks.

I like the music though.

Scores: Overall 1 Artistical 2 Technical 1 Genre 1

Review by graue all reviews by graue

I can't figure out if this is supposed to be playable yet or not. After I put down the first piece of track, I can't easily go back for more pieces, since part of the tunnel I have to go through has scrolled away.

For now, I'm gonna have to give this low ratings, but I really hope to see a finished version. The idea is a good one. The music, especially, is quite catchy.

Scores: Overall 1 Artistical 2 Technical 1 Genre 1

Review by Onewing all reviews by Onewing

Good: It?s cute!
Bad: Can?t lose, unless you try.
I like me some trains to jump.
Comments:
Ah, finally, a cute game I can let my nephews to play. I doubt I?d show it to anyone else. Although the game does have a cutesy little story and character, which saves it from certain doom, it just lacks implementation. Yet, I do feel potential exists with a few more levels (that actually involve challenge).

Overall: Sorry, it?s just not a game. 1

Artistic: What is the definition of artistic? Uniqueness? I believe this game was handcrafted, which for programmers IS artistic in its own way. Have a 3.5 buddy, I?ll even round it up to a 4.

Technical: It definitely has the ASCII art, but compared to the others, it just doesn?t stand up. So, relatively, I have to give it a lower score. Help screen is exactly that, a help screen. Can?t seem to die by falling off the trains (shouldn?t that happen) and you can?t go backwards, so I?d say it?s a poor engine. I knight thee Two!

Genre: Time is involved and central to game play. That?s three-worthy.

Scores: Overall 1 Artistical 4 Technical 2 Genre 3

Review by Lenman all reviews by Lenman

What can I say? All you need to do is hold down the right key, jumping is not neccessary because nothing happens if you fall inbetween 2 wagons. Might have been fun if it had been finished.

Scores: Overall 1 Artistical 2 Technical 2 Genre 1

Review by newcreature all reviews by newcreature

Okay, this game is really short and all you have to do is hold the right arrow key until you reach the end. The graphics are fully ASCII art and I think they look pretty cool.

Scores: Overall 1 Artistical 3 Technical 3 Genre 3

Review by BAF all reviews by BAF

A simple game... you just have to jump from train car to train car. There is a help function implemented, it meets all requirements. There is only two levels, it would be funner with more levels. Could be a nice game with more polshing.

Scores: Overall 2 Artistical 3 Technical 3 Genre 4

Review by miran all reviews by miran

Not bad. The ASCII art is nothing special, but unlike in most other games, it looks like it was actually hand crafted (as opposed to being generated with a tool or something) and has a major role in the game. The game is also a nice finished product with a menu screen, end credits and it even has some music. The gameplay however is where it lets us down. There are only two levels which are both easy to beat first time in less than 30 seconds (combined) and there's nothing to make you want to come back for more.

Scores: Overall 1 Artistical 2 Technical 3 Genre 2

Review by Darksoll all reviews by Darksoll

I must admit it, this game is soooo original. the ASCII-art is great.
so you control a funny ascii-guy and go trough a train before time's up.
it has only two levels(High Ascii quality levels, but only 2). the first one has a time limit of 11 seconds, and the other 17 seconds, so the game lasts only 28 seconds!!!.
it's funny, and the music is cool, but it could last at least 3 minutes!.
regardless, i liked it, it's simple and fun.
you can jump with space button, something really unnecesary cause you can go trough the train without jumping. in fact you can complete the game by only keeping right arrow pressed....

I think this game would be better if: it last at least more.

Scores: Overall 2 Artistical 4 Technical 3 Genre 3

Review by graue all reviews by graue

I'm not sure I see how this is possible. If I just hold Right and jump as needed, I don't make it, and I don't see any way to go faster. Also, the figures at the top of the screen that are supposed to indicate the time left do not resemble numbers to me.

At least the visuals are nice, and the ASCII art is used in a nice way.

Scores: Overall 2 Artistical 3 Technical 4 Genre 3

Review by Onewing all reviews by Onewing

Good: Something different.
Bad: You?ll probably want more of the same.
Forget TINS and make a real RPG!
Comments:
I?m glad someone made a RPG-feel game. It was a nice break and I agree, the exploration feature was extra nice. Unfortunately, there?s nothing to find, other than a little lake which serves no purpose. Again, start over, write a new plot and I think you can probably pull together a really neat game. I?ll be the first to play!

Overall: Sorry, the only fun thing was exploring. The battles were painfully lame. Maximum damage of 2!

Artistic: Not very impressive and what is good was ripped. Bam, 2!

Technical: Nah, I can?t give you more than a 2.

Genre: 2? Nah, 3 for being creative and doing time travel (or saying there was time travel).

Scores: Overall 2 Artistical 2 Technical 2 Genre 3

Review by newcreature all reviews by newcreature

I didn't really understand what I was supposed to be doing in this game. Basically I walked around for a long time and fought different monsters while being randomly transported between time periods. That was pretty much all there was to do. I did like the time period idea, though. It just needs to be implemented a little better.

Scores: Overall 1 Artistical 3 Technical 2 Genre 4

Review by miran all reviews by miran

Well, this game is a bit different from most others. Whereas in most games you have limited time to complete an objective or something similar, this game uses the time requirenement in a different way. Here you travel in time! Unfortunately this idea is not terribly well implemented as you just get some text message saying you've been sent to the future and then back and the map changes to something that's not too different from the other time period. Still, this deserves an extra point in the genre category :)

Graphically the game is rather poor. Some sprites were harvested from various other games but the author really should have done a better job with the visual aspect of the game. Solid bright green for grass is especially annoying. Also there's no mention of trains in the game and although there are some railway tracks, they don't seem to serve a purpose.

Scores: Overall 2 Artistical 1 Technical 2 Genre 3

Review by guilt all reviews by guilt

Cute li'l fella who walks thru' the various levels, fighting nice li'l skellies, diablo-lookalkies, green dragons, a evil looking little thing, and things that look like what u get when you cross bugs bunnies and stroggs ... :)

I found it very amusing to walk through the whole level ... It has a mystic thrill to it :) Absolutely enjoyable!

Scores: Overall 3 Artistical 3 Technical 4 Genre 3

Review by Darksoll all reviews by Darksoll

This game is an RPG, where you control a guy called christopher.
The game seems incomplete, you have no objective. you can't enter the houses, talk to anybody...
When you go to a certain place, the map seems to change(apparently some time passed), and when you come back the houses are different.
there aro some enemies, and the graphics are ok.
but the game is kinda easy, because in any fight you can run, and christopher will always succesfully run! ;-).
It can be a good game completed, but not yet....

I think this game would be better if: it had some more interaction. The collision detection could be better. and please put your game some music!!!

Scores: Overall 2 Artistical 2 Technical 2 Genre 2

Review by miran all reviews by miran

This game probably has the most impressive ASCII art of all games in TINS '06. OK, the helicopter looks more like a pig with a rotor and CCCP written on it than a real helicopter, but everything else looks really good. The smoke is an especially nice touch. But the ASCII art is unfortunately the only good thing about this game. The gameplay is minimal at best, you just press right and wait until your helicopter reaches its destination. The help screen is less than brilliant, the train and time play no major part in the game, the whole engine doesn't seem very advanced and there's nothing extra special, like sounds or music or something like that. Overall it's not a very good game, heh it's not even a little good, but I have to say it again, the ASCII art is really nice.

Scores: Overall 1 Artistical 2 Technical 4 Genre 2

Review by guilt all reviews by guilt

Features some cool ASCII art .. especially the nice smoke on the train n the helicopter ... :) It's fun to look at and play! :)

Scores: Overall 3 Artistical 4 Technical 5 Genre 4

Review by Darksoll all reviews by Darksoll

The ASCII art of this game is impressive, one of the best ASCII-art in this competition.
I was impressed by the smoke of the train!!!.
but the game is kinda unfinished, it would be a great game finished, but in 0.2 version you never lose and you can't crash to anything.
so, the game idea is ok but the game itself(at least this version) is not fun at all.
There is no music nor sound effects. well, i understand it's not a complete version, so i hope v1.0 will have cool music and SFX ;-)....

I think this game would be better if: it has collisions ;-).

Scores: Overall 1 Artistical 5 Technical 2 Genre 3

Review by ahuillet all reviews by ahuillet

I was impressed by this demo. Too bad it is not finished. Excellent ASCII art.

(Note : I had to fix main.cpp in order to run the game on my computer)

Scores: Overall 1 Artistical 5 Technical 4 Genre 2

Review by yozshura all reviews by yozshura

At first look into this game I was amazed at the ASCII, probably the best of all. The smoke on the train was the icing on the cake, it looked great. Its unfinished but looking at this, the full game would be great. Other that that, there's not much to do in this game.

Scores: Overall 2 Artistical 4 Technical 5 Genre 3

Review by Onewing all reviews by Onewing

Good: It?s like sex. You have to move just right, move faster and faster until you explode and it only last 30 seconds!
Bad: It just doesn?t feel very?TINS-ishy.
Dodger?s Highschool Yearbook quote: Most likely to have a Cult following.
Comments:
What can I say about Dodger? To quote the wise miran, it?s his best game evar. Once again it is my favorite game as a result of a competition. However, and unfortunately, I don?t feel like it should stand a top the TINS06 trophy board. It feels like the idea was conceived prior to the competition and it was just bent to satisfy the requirements. There?s nothing wrong with that, really, but I feel it is unfair to judge it the same way as the others.

Overall: Fun, addictive, professional. 5!

Artistic: Although professional looking, it?s really nothing ?amazing?. The railroad/tracks don?t really serve any purpose in this game. A 3 for you, come back one year!

Technical: Help screen is nothing special and ASCII art is lame and forced. Engine is awesome though, so very little for help screen, nothing for ASCII and the rest for engine. That adds up to 11 in binary!

Genre: Good use of time, but nothing special. I?ll give you a 4 and you better like it!

Scores: Overall 5 Artistical 3 Technical 3 Genre 4

Review by guilt all reviews by guilt

This is a nice game that can keep you playing for hours ... The objective is to dodge all those things which hit ya ... It's very tough to play after some time.. too many objects near you! :) My current record is 14 seconds.. If you make it past 20 seconds, consider yourself lucky! :)

Scores: Overall 3 Artistical 3 Technical 3 Genre 5

Review by Darksoll all reviews by Darksoll

mmmmm, this game is great and really addictive.
you control some strange thing that for no apparent reason has to dodge some other strange things ;-). The in-game help says that you're a master if you can last 20 seconds or more, i think if you can last more than 20 seconds you're some kinda super freak!.
my record is 16.42.
the menu is great and it has some options. there's one of them that sais "reduce cpu usage yes/no" i think it's kinda absurd...
The music is ok, and the SFX great.
the hi-score could be better, each time you make a new record you have to write your name again, and that's an agonic pain!.
Oh, and the ASCII art is kinda cheap.... i would say really cheap......
anyway it's one of my favourites.

I think this game would be better if: the hi-score would remember last name entered.
mmmm, the ASCII could be better, much better.

Scores: Overall 4 Artistical 4 Technical 3 Genre 4

Review by Gassa all reviews by Gassa

With a 2D board with simple circular objects moving around, this game offers you some real action! You should boldly hold the left mouse button while moving the mouse in such a fashion that your nice blue glowing circular object (called ship) does not contact walls, other circles (drones), and missiles fired by evil tanks which move around the board. Sounds quite minimalistic, eh? Well, I'll just say that I spent over 1.5 hours playing and, despite only moderate care for the competition rules here, I consider this game the best and definitely most playable TINS'06 entry.

Yeah, it's all about time! Although you have to hold the mouse button (for no visible reason) if you want to stay alive, it won't hurt much - first time you try, you are going to stay alive for a mere second or two. After hitting the F1 key to get some info on what's happening, you try again, and yet again a couple of seconds will be enough for the drones to get you.

After a while (remember the `time' genre requirement here) you'll get to understand the mechanics of the game and could predict where the missile goes and how to get away from that strange circular trajectory of a drone. But it will require a firm hand, a sharp eye, and a good look ahead to survive for long. The longer you survive, the faster the drones move around; one false move and you are history. At higher speeds, looking ahead becomes more important and more difficult 'cause you have less time for it; every hundredth of a second will cost some physical and mental effort!

The help note offers you a challenge to survive for a mere 20 seconds, so you hit F1 again to bring the high score list back and begin the ascension. As time passes, the high score becomes fully populated, then the first line gets to 10, 11, 12, 15, 18!... seconds while the last line also gets up to 5, 6, ..., 10 seconds, being a reminder of how hard you tried. Even hundredths of a second become hard to achieve; you take a break and then continue your efforts. And here it is, you're victorious! Pitifully, the game does not reward you in any way for surviving as long as 20 seconds, but perhaps your inner feeling of being a topguy should suffice here.

Apart from the gameplay, we have TINS rules to consider. Here's where the game does not have much to offer - the idea of the game fits quite well into the genre requirement, but railways for tanks clearly are there just to formally satisfy the rule. When it came to reviewing, I had to restart the game to see whether the rail tracks are there, as the readme file states - there is absolutely no reason to notice them while playing. In fact, the gameplay is so intense that you'll very soon regret noticing anything outside the board! The so-called ASCII-art appearing in the intro is merely a bunch of words written using ASCII symbols instead of pixels.

On the technical side, the product is polished enough for a 72-hour project. Code is somewhat hasty but understandable and not `too ugly' as the readme file claims. Sounds and music are in place, though the music fragment is too short, and the shooting could sound much better. Graphics are simple yet nice. The design is the strong part of this entry - everything you need, from the help / high score board to the menu buttons, is in the right place, the music and sound themes fit the game. There definitely is an eye for detail here. It would be even better if the drones themselves could collide and bump, but well, that's a request for enhancement rather than a complaint.

As a summary, I would recommend you to play this entry, for it challenges both your fingers and your brain, providing a fun, intense gameplay in return. At least you can use it as a mouse trainer, but IMHO it deserves more attention.

Scores: Overall 5 Artistical 4 Technical 5 Genre 5

Review by yozshura all reviews by yozshura

Awesome game. It's easy to control, you just dodge all the objects, easy you say?

Wrong, after about 10 seconds all the objects start to move faster and faster until you die. You'll get hooked on this. I have spent hours playing this with a few friends trying to beat each other's high score. GFX are great easy to see everything at any moment. The use of ASCII art is not the too good, a bunch of dashes making words. Trains(i'm assuming thats what they are), one of your enemies, have been implemented nicely into the game, they'll be the death of you a lot. Pure awesomness.

Scores: Overall 5 Artistical 5 Technical 3 Genre 4

Review by Onewing all reviews by Onewing

Good: Odd enough for me to like it!
Bad: I doubt anyone else will?
TINS award: Funniest game available.
Comments:
What a hoot! It?s worth going through more for the hilarity than the actual game play. There are some great moments that are Napoleon Dynamite-worthy. However, judging is based on game value, rather than comedic value (which is a shame).

Overall: There?s not much point or purpose to playing this game. Time would be better spent ripping the code and reading the script than actually playing. That equals 2.

Artistic: Very ripped and not very consistent. Another 2 for you.

Technical: Ah heck, make it a third two.

Genre: 3 for giving SOME purpose to this game.

Scores: Overall 2 Artistical 2 Technical 2 Genre 3

Review by miran all reviews by miran

Playing this game for long enough to be able to give a competent review was an extremely painful experience. This alone tells a lot about the game but let me explain why I really couldn't give it more than 1/5 in most categories.

The gameplay is very simple. You use the arrow keys to move a sprite from one part of the map to another. That doesn't sound like a fun way to spend a few minutes and indeed it isn't. But then it's made even worse by the fact the the sprite you control (which by the way looks like a toy steam powered train engine) insists on getting stuck at every obstacle. Also the fact that you control a train engine has no impact of gameplay whatsoever. The engine can be freely rotated and moved around and there's not even a hint of railway tracks that can usually be found under trains. It could just as well have been a picture of a squished tomato instead of that train engine.

Speaking of graphics, the sprites in this game are rather good, but as I understand from the readme they were not made by the author of the game for this competition, but instead were taken from some internet site, so I think their quality shouldn't count towards the final score. At least not in a positive way. By the way, the MIDI music is also very good, even though it doesn't really fit the theme. But I suspect its story is similar as that of the sprites. It was probably taken from the internet or a commercial game or something.

ASCII art seems to have been artificially stuffed in this game just for the sake of complying to the rules. As I understand it's a small photograph of the author's face, converted to ASCII art, presumably by an external bitmap-to-ASCII converter, and displayed in the middle of the game for a second or two for no apparent reason.

The in-game help screen is equally minimal. When you press enter, the screen turns to black with a couple of lines of text in the middle that attempt to explain how the game is played.

Time is an important part of the game, because the goal is to reach your destination before the time runs out, and that's where the only mark higher that 1 comes from. However there's actually no real explanation about why the time runs out so that's a very generous 2/5 in the genre category that I gave.

Overall this game is not very good. Thumbs up for making an actual finished game, but a lot more would be required for me to not want to forget it as soon as possible. There is one good aspect of this game though - the mildly humorous in-game dialogs. But all the positive points those bring in are cancelled out by the fact that they can't be interrupted and you have to sit through them every single time you want to play. But then on the other hand, that won't be much of a problem.

Scores: Overall 1 Artistical 2 Technical 1 Genre 2

Review by guilt all reviews by guilt

The game has some gorgeous 3D graphics :) and a great lookin' engine and the music also sounds very pleasant and good!

Scores: Overall 3 Artistical 5 Technical 4 Genre 3

Review by FalseMasterJ all reviews by FalseMasterJ

Pulp Training is a strange game that after playing it three times there's not much left to do.

The artistical score got a 3 because it has nice looking graphics, but no railway. plus driving a train like a car is just weird.

There's some things in the game that don't work, and the ASCII art and help menu won't help here. So the technical score got a 2.

In this game you go around town doing jobs for people. It's fun to play all the way though just to see what happens next, and the ending just made me want to play it again, but after the second time it gets old.

Scores: Overall 3 Artistical 3 Technical 2 Genre 2

Review by Gassa all reviews by Gassa

In this game, you control a taxi locomotive. Your goal is to get to various spots on the 2D map in time, and enjoy the dialogues in between.

Well, the start menu, the help screen, and the credits when you complete the game are rather minimalistic. Indeed, I ain't quite sure that about two dozen characters of help are enough to satisfy the in-game help technical requirement. Furthermore, the ASCII art shown somewhere between dialogues was too abstract for me to understand (I even had to use my text and image editors on the source file to understand what it really is) and doesn't seem to have much in common with the gameplay.

The game involves chatting with some people and moving them around the map. The uncontrollable dialogues are a bit cheap, a bit humorous, mostly in an odd philosophical sense which is expressed to you when the game is finished. They are fun as a whole but boring to read one by one, at least for me.

Apart from the dialogues, you drive a pretty looking vehicle in a pretty looking city... but sudden clashing at the air and jamming at the corners contrast terribly with the nice graphics. If you don't get to the next stop in time, it's most probably the result of the awkward collision detection. Luckily, you can retry it over and over again, without any penalty.

One could expect a game with dialogues to make the most use of the `time' genre requirement... unfortunately, here we only see `time', as in `in time', but not the theme of a story or a dialogue.

The graphics and music fit well in the game; although they are reused from other people's projects, a sharp eye for what to reuse is an advantage nevertheless. The simple prerendered 3D model of the locomotive is also nice. But looking at the code, you see something in between the procedural and automaton programming paradigms - a vast number of cases having quite similar bodies, with only a few actions organized as functions... not to mention the strange collision detection algorithm. It seems that there could be no goal crazy enough for 70 copy-pasted cases to be better than a couple of functions... but then again, I ain't very good at automaton programming :) .

To summarize, what we have here is moderate gameplay with some extra fun for those who enjoy reading dialogues, nice graphics and music, and shallow care for the competition rules. Sadly, linear dialogues nearly kill the replayability of the game. Personally, I liked it... but I could not guarantee that YOU will.

Scores: Overall 3 Artistical 4 Technical 4 Genre 3

Review by Onewing all reviews by Onewing

Good: Looks professional.
Bad: Pretty slow gameplay.
Trains moving through trains? That?s um-possible!
Comments:
Time-Table has that Sim City quality minus the crack-like addictiveness. Nonetheless, this game is beaming with potential and I?ll be keeping my eye out for further advancements. First things first, add some music!

Overall: It feels good. It feels like a game. It just doesn?t play like one yet. 3 will suffice.

Artistic: The game is very well balanced artistically. It looks like a 4 to me.

Technical: Help screen is very helpful, but not very enticing. ASCII art is minimal. However, the game engine itself is very good. I?d say somewhere between 3 and 4, and my random generator says 3.

Genre: Uh, could this be any more time-oriented? A perfect 5!

Scores: Overall 3 Artistical 4 Technical 3 Genre 5

Review by miran all reviews by miran

In my quick little "first reactions" review this was my favourite game. It has a good game engine based on the MASkinG library, implements all the rules reasonably well and seems fun to play at first glance. Overall it's a solid base for a more complex game if the author wishes to develop it further.

But the competition version lacks in many areas. There really isn't much to the gameplay. You just build a couple of train stations, connect them with tracks and add trains. Then as the cash starts to flow in, add more stations, tracks and trains and wait. The game plays by itself, your money goes into the stratosphere and all you have to do is add enough trains and then wait until the game mission is reached. In fact that's about all you can do.

As far as the artistic side of the game goes, it's OK for a quick engine test I guess but nothing special and if the development continued, none of the graphics would survive until the final version. There aren't any terrain tiles, the tracks are minimal, the trees and buildings could be a whole lot better and the trains look more like buses to me. Also the game uses the default MASkinG skin with the default Allegro font which doesn't make it the prettiest thing in the world.

All the competition rules were satisfied. The game is all about trains, time is an integral part of the gameplay, there is a good in-game help screen and reasonably good looking ASCII art is used. However the author has not used any of the rules in a particularly inventive way and everything as far as that part of the game goes is quite average and predictable. Also to note is the fact the game has no sound effect, music or any other nice touches you'd normally associate with a well polished and finished product.

Scores: Overall 3 Artistical 3 Technical 5 Genre 4

Review by guilt all reviews by guilt

The one game which can claim that it meets the genre requirement by a time table :) and not just the timer that's there. The objective is to make a timetable that keeps trains running between all eight stations...

I did try my hand at it (failed attempts, of course! :)) Maybe i should just stick to sidescrollers and point-click games :)

A nice concept.. original idea!

Scores: Overall 4 Artistical 5 Technical 5 Genre 5

Review by Darksoll all reviews by Darksoll

This game reminds me an old game called Transport tycoon.
You build railroads and trains in order to communicate
all cities in the map(a total of 8). The first impression of the game was really great. but the game is not as fun as it looks like. first of all there is lack of randmoness, so let's say i put a train from city A to city B, in the first travel my train won $28, from city B to city A it won $28, and then again, from city A to city B, guess how many did my train won? yes, $28.
So, that makes me think that train ticket cost $1, and there are ALWAYS 28 passengers in both stations.
There are no taxes/train mantenance, so you always win money.
The GUI is really great, and the interface is OK, however i didn't found how to remove stations....
regardless, the game is very good, one of my favourites, but some little details would have make it much better....
i'd love to see a complete version of this game, so thumbs up!.

I think this game would be better if: some randmoness in the money. taxes or maintenance or wathever makes me lose at least some money. And one more thing, MUSIC!!!, there are no musics/sound effects at all!!. I don't like Chaplin style games you know ;-).....

Scores: Overall 4 Artistical 3 Technical 4 Genre 4

Review by amarillion all reviews by amarillion

The basic idea of this game is that you are a "Train Master" controlling a whole network of railways and all the trains on it. You have to switch tracks at junctions at the right moment so that all trains follow the right route and arrive at their destination stations in time. You have a view over the entire railroad in a single screen, so you get a good overview, although that also means some of the graphics are tiny and sometimes hard to make out.

There are four different levels, varying in difficulty. The easy level is indeed easy enough, because there is only one train to control. The train schedule is not very tight so you can make the train go very slow and you have plenty of time to make the necessary adjustions to the junctions before the train arrives there.

In the normal level it gets quite a bit more complicated. You have to control three trains at the same time, and there are many more junctions and stations. You have keep an eye on so many things at the same time that this becomes quite a challenge.

I must say I haven't really played the "quite difficult" and "no fair" modes. One look at the levels shows they are quite interesting, but due to some interface problems detailed below I didn't play them thoroughly.

The main issue I have with this game is the poor user interface. It has several glitches in it that make the game hard to play. For example, I often run into a problem where the speed dial gets stuck at 100 or -100. This is especially a problem when I want to stop a train, but it won't go slower than 100. At other times the speed dial seems to loose all bounds and you can go way past 1000, so the train zooms accross the rails in no time.

Another big usability problem is that the game doesn't tell you when you're doing something wrong. Sometimes you're playing and suddenly, quite unexpectedly the "You're Fired!" screen shows up. Perhaps one of your trains crashed somewhere, or perhaps you missed a target station or perhaps there is a bug in the game. Who knows? It would have been much nicer if the game would have pointed out problems e.g. by showing a big explosion when your train crashes somewhere, or a big red mark when you are late at a station. But as it is right now, you can't learn from your mistakes as you don't know what you're doing wrong.

The graphics are nice and colourful, the (voice) sound effects are nice too. The music is ok, but moreover it seems to have been made during the time of the competition which is a big plus. The ascii art is a mixture of automatically converted images and hand-generated, and is quite fitting. The help function is there, although it is rather basic.

All in all this is a decent entry with a fun concept, and it would have been really great were it not for a few annoying user-interface glitches.

Scores: Overall 3 Artistical 3 Technical 4 Genre 3

Review by Onewing all reviews by Onewing

Good: I can?t believe it?s not butter! It feels like the real thing!
Bad: Gets very difficult.
The New York Times call it, ?Simply Amazing!? Well, at least I do.
Comments:
Wow! Quite possibly the best entry for this year?s TINS. It?s a well polished, challenging game that feels like a ROM for a Nintendo emulator. This game better place in the top position in some category, at least in my opinion. It?s like what I imagined everybody to be making during the competition, only done right. Oddly, I want to play SimCity all of a sudden?

Overall: Challenging game play that?s relatively easy to pick up and difficult to master. With music that fits perfectly and gameplay that actually appears to maneuver as intended, I have to give a shout to out to my friend, five!

Artistic: Is it breath-taking? No, not really, but it doesn?t look indie. It?s very retro and gets the point across. Four score (and sever years ago?)!

Technical: I think the ASCII art in this game is fitting and impressive, even if it is generated. A+! The help screen is a little lacking and jarring from the rest of the game (although I like how a little detail is given on each level). I had no problems with the engine. Four stars!

Genre: It?s obviously focused on time. Another 4!

Scores: Overall 5 Artistical 4 Technical 4 Genre 4

Review by miran all reviews by miran

Good use of ASCII art, good gfx (for its size), good menus and help screen. Pretty much everything about this game is good. But there's just one little thing: what are you supposed to do? I only played on the "for dummies" level and no matter what I did, I got fired after some time. I moved the train from station to station but nothing happened.

Scores: Overall 3 Artistical 4 Technical 4 Genre 3

Review by guilt all reviews by guilt

Nice looking title screen, and a retro "Train master" voice totally got me! :) The game is a nice puzzle type game (I'm not very good at playing these ones apparently :( ) The author has managed to get the entire 8x8 ASCII character set (accented characters included .. which i don't think Allegro provides) ... and deserves the credit for it! :)

Scores: Overall 3 Artistical 5 Technical 5 Genre 5

Review by Darksoll all reviews by Darksoll

The menu of this game is something cool, a good quality ASCII art, and a voice that says "Train Master!", it's cool to hear a voice at the start of a game, it adds a special flavour. The music is OK.
The game idea is really excellent and original. i will say my experience with this game: first i choose new game and then i chose not fair mode(I love that incoherent things) but i didn't understand absolutely anything, so i tried mode for dummies(don't laugh ;-)). I understood how to play the game, but i discovered that for dummies mode was as unfair as the unfair mode itself, the game ask you to reach stations that doesn't exist, not at all....
So then i tried normal mode, and it worked ok.
when you lose you se an ASCII guy pointing at you and it says "YOU'RE FIRED!".
I liked this game so much, it's something different and fun for a while, one of my favourites.

I think this game would be better if: mmmm, there's a bug with the speed, some times speed get stuck at 100 or -100, and that's really frustrating. And the dummy mode could ask for REAL stations ;-)....

Scores: Overall 3 Artistical 4 Technical 4 Genre 4

Review by amarillion all reviews by amarillion

G-loop is the only 3D entry of TINS 2006. Unfortunately, similar to Marcello's entry this game is fraught with problems that make it unplayable on some computers.

This goal of the game is to steer a spaceship through a series of ring-shaped checkpoints, which reminds me of a couple of very hard levels of Super Mario 64. Each time the next ring is clearly marked with a sort of white shine in the middle. The spaceship controls are simple enough, although I found it a bit hard to control. It could be because the controls are done with the keyboard and not with the mouse, which would probably have been the more common solution, although it could also be just because I've never been really good at this sort of game. I end up circling the same checkpoint several times before I could actually go through it.

A strong point of the game is the rendered graphics. The 3D engine works very smoothly on my laptop. The three different levels have the same goal and the same texture but they look different enough to get you interested to play them all.

I find this is a very good implementation of the time theme, alhtough it would have been nicer if your target time was displayed during the game itself, right now you only see the time you have spend and the game leaves you wondering if you can still make it or not.

Weak points: the simplistic help, the lack of a real Train, the high hardware requirements and the problems it has on some computers.

Scores: Overall 4 Artistical 2 Technical 3 Genre 5

Review by miran all reviews by miran

Good game but a little hard to control. Technically it looks amazing with all the nice 3D stuff but it's more frustrating than fun to play and the competition rules were very loosely implemented.

Scores: Overall 4 Artistical 3 Technical 3 Genre 3

Review by Darksoll all reviews by Darksoll

This game is Graphically excellent. the only 3d game in this competition.
it's cool but the controls are kinda frustrating sometimes.
well, it's a fun game, but sometimes it's hard to control the ship.
The menu is excellent, but the ASCII art.... well, better not to talk about ASCII art....
I didn't see any trains nor railways, oh, you've got a TRAINing level right? you're so funny!.

sometimes is better to obbey the rules than using act of dog to escape some rules, you know? ;-)

Framerate is good on my celeron 1.8 with my geforce 5200 128mb.
And music is Excellent.

I think this game would be better if: the control were better.

Scores: Overall 2 Artistical 3 Technical 3 Genre 4

Review by amarillion all reviews by amarillion

This game reminds me of a part of the SNES classic "Secret of Evermore", where you could make huge amounts of money by buying bags of rice from one side of the marketplace for 2 gold pieces and selling them at the other side of the martketplace for 3 gold pieces. And in both games you quickly get a feeling that being a transporter of virtual goods is a boring job.

It would have been more fun if the buying and selling were less repetetive. For example, I can imagine that it would be great fun to fight yourself a way through a maze of caves filled with space monsters to reach that final outpost where it is rumoured they pay big bucks for saxophones. You'd have to interact with other travelling salesmen to get small hints about the best location to sell your excess lightbulbs. But as it is right now, moving from station to station poses no obstacle other than the time you have to spend on it.

There is one more thing to note about this game: the implementation of the time theme is very poor. This is certainly a weak point in an otherwise very well-polished game.

This game should be commended for it's beautiful, in-game generated ASCII art (in color), it's smooth GUI and help function, it's beautiful graphics (the main character is clearly unpolished programmer's art, but that doesn't really reduce the overall impresson of the graphics too much). Overall a solid entry that is well-polished but slightly hampered by the repetetive gameplay.

Scores: Overall 4 Artistical 5 Technical 5 Genre 2

Review by Onewing all reviews by Onewing

Good: Planet generation! Awesome-tastic!
Bad: Redundant
Shhh?press 9!
Comments:
Original? Check. Purpose? Check. Functional? Check. Huzzah, I think we?ve got a match! Seriously though, I enjoyed this game and recommend it to all ages. It will keep you entertained at least until level 2.

Overall: Gets old really quick. However, the first bit of item collecting is fun and finding that oh-so-rare item is always exciting. 3 tops.

Artistic: By far the most beautiful game (artistically) in TINS. I present to you the magic number 5.

Technical: I don?t care if the ASCII wasn?t hand made, it?s still better than the others. The help/menu screen is t?ght. Gravity is a little strong, it might be interesting to make it vary depending on the level. Nonetheless, it?s nothing that won?t give this game its second 5!

Genre: I wasn?t convinced. 2.

Scores: Overall 3 Artistical 5 Technical 5 Genre 2

Review by NyanKoneko all reviews by NyanKoneko

What first comes to mind when play Railroad Merchant is the wonderful presentation. This game quite literally has the best ascii art in any of the games. This is how I felt about the menu anyways. :)

The main game consists of trying to buy your way onto trains. So there's lots of collecting to be done on randomly created maps. Somehow, I would keep getting confused over what I could or could not walk over. My only complaints other than that is that there's a lack of sound within the game.

So overall, pretty good. It could use some polishing up for sure, but a fine entry for a weekend submission. :)

Scores: Overall 4 Artistical 4 Technical 5 Genre 4

Review by miran all reviews by miran

Extremely nice looking menus, good graphics and great ASCII art (although some might argue that real ASCII art should be painstakingly created by hand). The player is a little difficult to control though (too much gravity?) and gameplay is generally not very exciting. You just go from station to station, buying goods where they are cheap and selling them where you can get more money for them than you paid, all until you grab enough cash to move on to the next level. The trains have a minimal impact on the gameplay and I don't see how time is involved at all. But overall this is still one of the best games of this year's TINS.

Scores: Overall 3 Artistical 4 Technical 4 Genre 1

Review by guilt all reviews by guilt

That's some ASCII art we are talking ... This game features some dynamically generated ascii art (from the sprite)... gives a very unique n professional look to the game... I did manage to get a 1000$ after picking up a lot of 'em goodies :) Got 2 Saxophones .. got lucky :)

Nice looking parallax scrolling gfx ... eyecandy!

Scores: Overall 3 Artistical 4 Technical 5 Genre 3

Review by Darksoll all reviews by Darksoll

The color ASCII-art of this game was something really good!.
so the game's kinda simple, you control some kinda rocketer
that catch some items and sells them in order to go to another planet.
Graphically the game is beautifull, and the idea is original.
The world generator is something incredible.
the game itself turns kinda repetitive after the first world, yo got $1000, then you travel to another world and get another $1000. regardless it's one of my favourites.

I think this game would be better if: The gravity were not so extreme! ;-).
oh, i almost forget, what happened with music/SFX?

Scores: Overall 3 Artistical 5 Technical 4 Genre 3

Review by FalseMasterJ all reviews by FalseMasterJ

Railroad Merchant is an interesting game that with a bit of work could be a very nice game.

In this game you go around trading items to get enough money to progress to the next planet. There are different ways of doing this. One way could be just traveling around collecting inexpensive items to sell. the other way is buying items cheep from one shop and selling them to another to gain profit.

I gave 4/5 for the artistical score, because it really dose have nice graphics. Some things that made the artistical score have a 4 instead of 5 is the character you control doesn't look that great and I don't see how the trains are important.

I gave 5/5 for the technical score. There are some neat technical stuff. Railroad Merchant generates plaints by what name you give it. It has many different looking plaints. cool help menus that are necessary for the game. and some other nice looking stuff, including a ASCII generator. It only has one problem, gravity, but you get used to it.

I gave 1/5 for the genre score. I can't see how waiting for the trains is important especially when you have so many items to trade between shops.

Overall this is a deceit game if you like merchant type games, but it could use a tiny bit of work. Music/SFX/story could be some of them.

Scores: Overall 4 Artistical 4 Technical 5 Genre 1

Review by amarillion all reviews by amarillion

Megaman 3vil prototype is a very solid entry that is hampered by a few serious bugs. Wether this is due to OpenLayer or the game itself I don't know, but the game only worked on 1 out of 3 computers I tried it on. This is very unfortunate because otherwise the game is fun to play.

The game is a fast-paced 2D platform shooter that is set on top of a speeding train carrying worn out brown TimeCom conainers, clearly inspired by Capcom's megaman series. Megaman has to use his blaster to fight flying clocks that appear all around him. Which makes me wonder. Who is TimeCom? Are they good guys or bad guys? The name of the game suggests that Megaman has actually turned evil, so in that case TimeCom must be the good guys. But what are they transporting in those containers, and why is it so important that it needs to be defended with flying clocks?

The artwork is beatiful. The animation of the enemies and especially the main character is very smooth. You have 360 degree freedom with your blaster, and you have to use the mouse to aim. There is an ascii-wave effect in the background that contributes to the speedy feel of the game. Superiour object programming combined with OpenLayer graphics goodness, plus graphics from a good gfx artist make this game a pleasure to watch. The object programming is done with lots of eye for detail, for example, I like how the blaster ray slows down the flying clocks, as though the flying clocks have to push their way against the barrage of blaster bolts. And bullet time is a really good addition as well.

A few minor points. How do I switch to full screen? I keep accidentally clicking outside the game window, bringing up a different window so the game is suddenly hidden from view. The help is present but doesn't really look great, it's simply a few lines of text floating in the background. Also the many bugs that make this game unplayable on quite a few computers makes this game not as good as it could have been.

Scores: Overall 4 Artistical 5 Technical 3 Genre 4

Review by NyanKoneko all reviews by NyanKoneko

What can I say Marcello? Your game is once again one of the best of the bunch. :) It's fun and well put together. Four games this year really stuck out with me, and yours happens to be one of them. Actually, I am lucky enough to review two of my favorite games this year, so I don't have to feel embarassed about giving someone all 1s and 2s on the main page. :)

Anyways, the game plays similarly to the Megaman series with a hint of influence from the similarly popular game, Abuse. I liked the background ascii effect, the painted cars, the professional sprites, and the excellent particle effects. Well done!

The music and sound work well, and the game controls work well. It's a bit on the hard side, but that's easily forgivable. The slowing down of time was a nice touch as well.

Everybody, if you haven't played this game, please do. You'll enjoy it. :)

Scores: Overall 4 Artistical 5 Technical 4 Genre 4

Review by jovoc all reviews by jovoc

Wow, this game looked awesome. Very cool Abuse style gameplay, and top-notch art. It was a little buggy, when I tried to run it it would crash almost immediately, but it worked on my friend's computer but would crash after the player died.

Anyways, it was a really good start, and I love megaman-style side scrollers. So I really enjoyed this game, and wanted to see more levels and enemies. Aside from the technical problems, great production values.

Also, I liked the sand-of-time like game mechanic, it's a good fit to the sidescroller genre.

Scores: Overall 4 Artistical 5 Technical 3 Genre 4

Review by Darksoll all reviews by Darksoll

[Edit]
Now i can play it, i couldn't fix the problem but i can play it in a friend's computer.
In this game you control some kinda dark megaman that destroys some flying clocks. you can slow down the time pressing space.
The game itself is fun, and the framerate is excellent. you can view some ascii art in the background if you look closely.
the music is good.
ah, and the game crashes when "dark megaman" dies.....

Scores: Overall 4 Artistical 4 Technical 3 Genre 3

Review by Onewing all reviews by Onewing

Good: The title.
Bad: Low replay value.
Easy. Easy. Hard!!!!
Comments:
This is nice. Everything is here. Music (I swear it sounds like Freya?s theme at times), functional, challenging, fun, etc. Way to go!

Overall: It?s just a great game. I wish there was more replay value, but you can?t ask for everything in a 72hr competition game. It does get hard really fast unexpectedly, but it?s at the right time to keep you hooked and having fun. With the fitting music, I was having a gay time. I?ll give you a very, very low 5 (you know, like that 89.4445 A you got in Trig?).

Artistic: It?s got a very cartoony feel, which I like a lot. And it?s very consistent. With each level changing to a new feel, I?m inclined to give my second 5.

Technical: ASCII was weak. Help for each level was good. Game engine was sufficient. Score was 3.

Genre: I?m not sure where the time requirement came in, but I?m willing to give a 2.

Scores: Overall 5 Artistical 5 Technical 3 Genre 2

Review by Marcello all reviews by Marcello

Trainee is a quite nicely polished game that follows a pseudo pipe style gameplay. This level-based puzzle game displays sets of tracks and a train moves along them to a goal. As the player, you can switch tracks at certain points, and even add tracks.

The graphics in the game are simple but fitting. Some improvements could be made to how the train turns at corners, but for the most part, the game does not look like it was made in just 3 days.

However, the gameplay is lacking somewhat in speed. Once you've set the level layout how you like, there is no way (that I could see) to fast forward the level so that you could complete it. Being impatient I found myself just wanting the train to go faster so that I could continue to the next level. This kind of issue can easily be fixed and is the type of problem that usually comes out in user testing, so I do not hold it seriously against the game.

All in all, the game is well made, but somewhat slow. With this feature and perhaps slightly revised graphics, this would be an excellent game.

Scores: Overall 4 Artistical 4 Technical 3 Genre 3

Review by jovoc all reviews by jovoc

This was a great concept for a puzzle game with a real-time feel to it. I really liked the flipping levels, but I didn't like the building ones. I would have rather if the game had more flipping levels and didn't have the building feature at all.

Very impressive that you were also able to make a level editor in the timeframe. The ascii art and help system were enough to satisfy the requirements. One problem with the help system, the first time I played through the game I hit "space" when it said "Level Completed" and it skipped the help text for all of the other levels.

The graphics are really good, I liked the "seasons" theme in the tileset. The music was good but it didn't really seem to fit the game. Overall, Good job.

Scores: Overall 4 Artistical 4 Technical 3 Genre 2

Review by miran all reviews by miran

This is another promising puzzle game. The graphics are very good, they are even different from level to level and the game even has some music which isn't bad, although it gets old rather quickly. The game has a nice help screen in each level which explains everything and it uses some basic ASCII art to demonstrate. The game is obviously all about trains (although the "train" looks more like a minibus to me) and you have a limited time to complete each level, so all the competition requirements were met. But the gameplay could in my opinion be a lot better. The first few levels are more like tutorial levels and are very easy to beat, but then all of the sudden when you have to build tracks, it gets almost impossible. The outcome of the game depends on luck more than skill.

Scores: Overall 3 Artistical 4 Technical 3 Genre 3

Review by guilt all reviews by guilt

Trainee is a nice game :) You've got to hurry up and complete the tracks before your engine derails ...

I like the look and feel of the game. It plays nice, and keeps you engrossed for a while .... Very entertaining!

Two thumbs up :)

Scores: Overall 5 Artistical 5 Technical 4 Genre 5

Review by Darksoll all reviews by Darksoll

It's without any doubt my favourite game on this competition.
it's an original puzzle where you have to guide a train to the end of the level.
It has a lot of levels and a good variety of it. The music is excellent.
The game is really fun and entertained. The graphics are cute.
and the ASCII is OK.
the menu, GUI, and everything looks excellent. i didn't found any bug.

Two thumbs up for this game!

I think this game would be better if: mmmm, i dont like the way you add railways, they're random, and sometimes you have to fill the map with any railway in order to get the necessary railway.

Scores: Overall 5 Artistical 4 Technical 4 Genre 5

Review by ahuillet all reviews by ahuillet

This game is interesting. It has a real potential to distract.

Unfortunately, the "time" rule was not implemented very clearly nor originally, which forces me to give a lower mark than I'd have liked to.
2 out of 5 for genre mark

Good drawings, but where is the ASCII art ?
3 out of 5 for artistic performance

Game correctly written but I spotted a bug when the train goes out of the screen. The interface ("place parts") is a bit hard to use.
3 out of 5 for technical perf.

4/5 overall because the game's somewhat funny

Scores: Overall 4 Artistical 3 Technical 3 Genre 3

Review by graue all reviews by graue

A wonderful game, with beautiful graphics and music and gameplay that keeps you interested all the way through till the end. The objective for each level is to ensure the train reaches its destination safely, and to do this, you have to flip switches at junctions, and on later levels, place tracks as well. There's also an editor for when you finish the levels.

The only nit I'm going to pick is that ASCII art is not used in the game itself, only the help screen. So Trainee complies with the ASCII art rule, but not all that creatively. Overall, though, well done.

Scores: Overall 5 Artistical 5 Technical 2 Genre 4

Review by Onewing all reviews by Onewing

Good: I saved 15% by switching to Geico.
Bad: Everything
Soooo sad.
Comments:
At least you tried. Don?t let my low scores get to you, come back next year (or competition) and try again.
Overall: 1
Artistic: 1
Techncial: 1
Genre: 1

Scores: Overall 1 Artistical 1 Technical 1 Genre 1

Review by Marcello all reviews by Marcello

This game is not in English, and seems to crash when I pick the first option, does nothing when I pick the second, and exits when I pick the third. The readme doesn't explain anything, either.

Scores: Overall 1 Artistical 1 Technical 1 Genre 1

Review by jovoc all reviews by jovoc

Oh well, good try and your tileset looked nice.

Scores: Overall 1 Artistical 1 Technical 1 Genre 1

Review by miran all reviews by miran

This game is not good. But the maker found the courage to post it, which at least makes him better than 40 or so other guys who couldn't manage to do that.

Scores: Overall 1 Artistical 1 Technical 1 Genre 1

Review by Darksoll all reviews by Darksoll

I can't play this one, i think it's not finished...

I think this game would be better if: I could play it...

Scores: Overall 1 Artistical 1 Technical 1 Genre 1

Review by Tigge all reviews by Tigge

The game is not yet finished and there isn't much you can do. You see some remnants of ASCII art and a menu, hence the low score. Keep programming and try tins next year. Looking forward to an interesting entry next year.

A look in the tileset bmp shows some very promising graphics. Keep working on the game so we can see them in action.

Scores: Overall 1 Artistical 2 Technical 1 Genre 1

Review by Onewing all reviews by Onewing

Good: Finally getting back at those squirrels?
Bad: Disorientation.
Love and Peace!
Comments:
I played this for a long time; it?s gotta be good, right? Well, I?m not so sure. I am sure it?s got the coolest song of TINS06 entries.

Overall: Pretty difficult, controls are somewhat awkward and acorns don?t always go the full distance. Nonetheless, it?s kind of?mesmerizing. I give it a 157872/52624.

Artistic: It?s like an Arcade and a gameboy had a child! 2.

Technical: ASCII is there, somewhat. Help is there, somewhat. Game functions, somewhat. I?ll give you a somewhat 2.

Genre: Check. 3.

Scores: Overall 3 Artistical 2 Technical 2 Genre 3

Review by jovoc all reviews by jovoc

Nice surreal concept, train vs. squirrel. The ascii art map was well-integrated with gameplay. The map was a little too complicated, if it were simpler and if the train went a little faster I think the gameplay would have been more fun.

The gameplay needed some tuning, everything moved too slowly and the range of the acorns was annoying. The controls could have been simpler, for example why not just have left/right arrow fire from the left/right of the train.

The music was cool and helped draw you into the game. Overall, the idea was great, but the execution and graphics needed some more polish.

Scores: Overall 3 Artistical 1 Technical 2 Genre 2

Review by miran all reviews by miran

Nice game with a very retro feel. This is one of the few complete playable games this year. The implementation of the train requires a bit imagination and the fact that text was used to represent the railways barely qualifies as ASCII art but I think all the rules of the competition were satisfied. The gameplay is simple, you drive a train around a map and shoot squirels with acorns (does that make sense?). Controlling the train is a bit difficult as you don't always see where the squirels are, so most often you end up making the choice between turning left or right arbitrarily. Still, it's moderately fun to play through a couple of times. Extra points for sound effects and music. Even though they're not particularly good, they do add a lot to the retro atmosphere.

Scores: Overall 3 Artistical 2 Technical 3 Genre 3

Review by guilt all reviews by guilt

This game's got some great ASCII art tracks :) and a retro feel to it ... It's fun to keep shootin' em squirrels with nuts .. i had problems playing with the criss-cross railway lines.. but i'm totally gettin da hang of it now :D

I'm impressed!

Scores: Overall 4 Artistical 5 Technical 5 Genre 5

Review by Darksoll all reviews by Darksoll

Well, this game is kinda strange and abstract.
first of all you control a train that goes trough an ASCII map. i found the ASCII map kinda hard to understand, but the objective of the game is to kill some squirrels in some limited amount of time.
it's simple and fun but sometimes the train doesn't go wherever i want.
Thumbs up for the music, it's excellent and fit the game.
The ASCII art is not the best i've seen in my life....

I think this game would be better if: it had a map not so confusing.

Scores: Overall 2 Artistical 2 Technical 3 Genre 3

Review by Tigge all reviews by Tigge

Get ready to hunt some squirrels! You knock em down (actually you kill them.. how brutal. Guess this is an action game) with acorns that you shoot from a moving train.

I was a bit confused with the tracks at first and I couldn't handle the controls well, but I assumed that everything was going to clear after I played a bit

There graphics are mostly build with ASCII (apart from the train, the gui, the squirrels and the acorns). I love the retro feel of that music, there is something too it.

After playing up to level two I got stuck. This is a hard game, and now I'm even more confused. All I see is differnt ASCII signs and I have no clue how to get to those last annoying squirrels.

This is a nice game that could be improved. Some nice gfx and perhaps a mini map so I could orient myself =).

Scores: Overall 3 Artistical 2 Technical 3 Genre 3

Review by h8or all reviews by h8or

Failed to connect to server 68.205.12.228:1423.

Scores: Overall 1 Artistical 1 Technical 1 Genre 1

Review by jovoc all reviews by jovoc

I couldn't get this to work. :( Making an online game for one of these contests seems like a challenge.

Scores: Overall 1 Artistical 1 Technical 1 Genre 1

Review by guilt all reviews by guilt

Well.. i was kinda' waiting to play it online :) I'm looking forward to see this completed soon! :)

Scores: Overall 3 Artistical 5 Technical 3 Genre 3

Review by Darksoll all reviews by Darksoll

I can't play this one, it says "failed to connect to server 68.205.12.228:1423."

Scores: Overall None Artistical None Technical None Genre None

Review by graue all reviews by graue

This game doesn't seem to have a readme or a help screen or anything. Various random attempts at clicking in places didn't turn up anything interesting, either. I just see a bunch of tiles arranged, and I can click on tiles to place them, but other than that, there's nothing to do here, as far as I can figure out.

Whatever the authors had in mind, please finish it. It looks like it would've been fun.

Scores: Overall 1 Artistical 2 Technical 1 Genre 1

Review by Onewing all reviews by Onewing

Good: Changes eras.
Bad: Not very fun.
Pizza?
Comments:
I?m glad you have music, that makes up for much that is lacking in this game. There are some interesting things, but not enough to change my mind.

Overall: Dull, but works. 2

Artistic: This IS ugly. 1

Technical: ASCII art feature is awesome. The text-flying-thingy-feature is awesome. Few menu choices don?t work and controls are somewhat awkward. Here?s a 3.00, don?t use it all in one place.

Genre: The best implemented feature of this game, deserving of a 4.

Scores: Overall 2 Artistical 1 Technical 3 Genre 4

Review by jovoc all reviews by jovoc

Really cool concept and execution. The ascii-mode map was really neat and it was really cool that it adapted to your zoom level and stuff, this was one of my favorite uses of ascii-art in the contest.

The biggest problem was that using the train actually seemed to be more of a hinderance than a help. I wish that the road graph were "islands" connected only by trains, so that you had to use the trains to get there. I tried to ride the trains in era 2 but it was always easier to just walk there.

The map was well done, and somehow "felt" like an urban map. I hope you keep working on this, and put some real graphics in, this could be a really cool and innovative game.

Scores: Overall 4 Artistical 2 Technical 4 Genre 3

Review by miran all reviews by miran

Looks quite polished and it might even be fun to play, but I don't quite get it. The white dot doesn't seem to want to move in the direction where I want it to move.

Scores: Overall 4 Artistical 3 Technical 4 Genre 5

Review by guilt all reviews by guilt

The game features an impressive display of ASCII art, especially in the help system ... I was totally taken aback by the nice idea of animating the text positions and making them look totally cool (reminded me of Jazz Jackrabbit 2!) ... The controls are quite smooth.. and you've got to find a way of choosing the right turns to make, so you'll reach the pink dot and deliver...

The approximation ascii art upon completion and start up make a wonderful visual effect ... :) good stuff!

Scores: Overall 3 Artistical 3 Technical 5 Genre 5

Review by Darksoll all reviews by Darksoll

mmmm, this game is some kinda crazy taxi.
the graphics requiere a some imagination(the car is a white spot!), but they're OK.
The game is fun, the ASCII map is cool and original. sometimes the white/yellow spot doesn't go where i want, specially on closed curves. But anyway it's an excellent and fun game, the effects on the texts are cool!.
Two thumbs up for the music, but sometimes it stops for no apparent reason and in some eras music is kinda... silent.... ;-).

I think this game would be better if: mmmm, it's fine as it is, but music could sound in ALL eras....

Scores: Overall 3 Artistical 2 Technical 3 Genre 5

Review by graue all reviews by graue

A quite entertaining game, based on a cool concept: You move through a grid of roads, delivering packages, taking the trains to help you make it faster. But I kept waiting for the point when it would get really challenging, and that never happened -- I tended to make the deliveries with plenty of time to spare, even without taking the trains. The game could use some difficulty tuning: I suggest more trains, a bit fewer roads so it's not as easy to find a direct path, and tighter time limits towards the end.

That said, We Deliver is still definitely worth playing. The ASCII-art map previews are particularly ingenious. The time theme is done well, with the various eras you play in.

Scores: Overall 3 Artistical 3 Technical 5 Genre 4

Review by miran all reviews by miran

Some of the graphics look very nice and retro. But the game is hard to control and not very fun to play. Also it seems to run too fast, at least on my computer.

Scores: Overall 2 Artistical 3 Technical 2 Genre 2

Review by guilt all reviews by guilt

The Title ASCII art is very nice ... reminds me of Galaxian :) The green monsters are very big, indeed ... I found it fun to keep whirring around in the li'l engine.. :) I couldn't save the domes from destruction though ;) The weapon has a nice flamethrower feel to it... Very quaint!

Scores: Overall 3 Artistical 5 Technical 5 Genre 4

Review by Darksoll all reviews by Darksoll

This game is kinda confusing.
Some graphics are OK, but it's hard to control.
and it feels kinda incomplete, lack of music/sfx.
The shoots are kinda slow.
The game credits doesn't seem to work at all ;-).

I think this game would be better if: it had a better control.

Scores: Overall 2 Artistical 2 Technical 2 Genre 3

Review by graue all reviews by graue

Looks cool, there's just... not much to do yet. I would like to see this developed some more, but as of now, I can't stand it for more than a few minutes.

I had to change the code to get it to not segfault with the music missing. Also, I'm not quite sure where the time theme was supposed to come in here.

Scores: Overall 2 Artistical 3 Technical 2 Genre 1

Review by Eric_Love all reviews by Eric_Love

In Fragments of Time, you have to protect a dome for the longest possible time from the Balrogs which attack it. Unfortunately there's only one working level, but it's a well-balanced one.

You travel around on rails, which is a clever way to meet the requirement. The other requirements weren't done so well: Leaving the Help screen on too long causes enemies to swarm in afterwards, and ASCII art is only used on the title screen.

The graphics is better than that of any game I've made.

Scores: Overall 3 Artistical 5 Technical 1 Genre 2

Review by Onewing all reviews by Onewing

Good: Cows!
Bad: Level 4?
Does this game seem familiar? No, not in the least?
Comments:
Niunio?s Train is actually pretty fun, even if it is a little unoriginal. It?s functional, it?s got all the elements needed and it?s not an eyesore. In other words, it?s a game! That?s a big deal considering most competition games aren?t truly complete enough to be a game. I do agree that it can be slow when you have your tracks set, but in the later levels, it?s almost too fast. I enjoyed it and someday, I?ll beat level 4.

Overall: It?s fun, playable, polished and it?s got music. It feels almost like carnival game, specially with lucky-go-round music. This definitely deserves a 4!

Artistic: Not bad, but not good either. The main title screen is pretty impressive, but during gameplay it could be a lot better. It does encompass the train and railroad requirement and seems to focus around them, so that is deserving of a 3.

Technical: Not much ASCII, but what little there is, is moderately artistic. The help screen was weak, but functional. I?d say a 2.5, (aka 3)

Genre: The only ?time? portion of the game I could see, is the implicit timing of get the tracks to the right places before the train derails. Since time itself wasn?t pivotal to the gameplay, I feel 2 is about is good as I can offer.

Scores: Overall 4 Artistical 3 Technical 3 Genre 2

Review by miran all reviews by miran

This is a very solid looking puzzle game where you have limited time to move sections of a railway in such a way that the train visits all the stations. It's simple to play but challenging to beat and the fact that the levels are randomly generated, it even has some replay value. The midi music is a bit annoying but adds a sense of completeness to the game. It's an average game, or perhaps a bit above average for this competition, the only reason I gave a 2/5 in the technical category is because there isn't much ASCII art in the game and you get an access violation if you click in the wrong place.

Scores: Overall 4 Artistical 3 Technical 2 Genre 3

Review by guilt all reviews by guilt

This is a kind of save-the-train game where you rotate tracks as the train passes thru' it. I'm not very good at playing quick thinking games... but the idea is certainly a nice one... The ASCII art windows remind me of good old Turbo Vision!

A fun game to play! :)

Scores: Overall 3 Artistical 5 Technical 4 Genre 5

Review by Darksoll all reviews by Darksoll

This game is a puzzle, and i love puzzles!.
you have to guide a train trough some stations.
The game is simple and fun. the controls seem kinda confusing at first but you control it ok after some time.
The music is great, so great!, the readme didn't say anything about it but i'm sure i heared it before, a long long time ago. mmm let me guess, Adventure island maybe? ;-).
I've found a bug, when you press control and then click in certain places of the screen, you get an access violation signal.
I like so much this game, it's one of my favourites.

I think this game would be better if: more ASCII art would be alright.

Scores: Overall 4 Artistical 3 Technical 3 Genre 5

Review by graue all reviews by graue

Note: This is Ashrilyn. Graue said he could not compile Niunio's entry, as it uses Pascal. (And, unfortunately, I had not registered separately for Tins06.)

The game's titlescreen has an ASCII art train scrolling along, the text on the side of the cars telling you to press F1 for help, esc to exit, and space to play.
The help screen's colors and graphics resemble those of an ASCII DOS game, while the graphics in general resemble old EGA or VGA DOS games.

The game concept is a bit like Pipe Dreams. In this case, there are pieces of track already placed which you can rotate or slide into an empty space. You can still rotate or move pieces of track the train has already been on.

When playing, if I try to slide a piece of track outside the grid that is not actually movable, I get an access violation error, and must exit the game. It's kind of easy to forget about those edge pieces not being movable at first, as they look very similar to the other track pieces (just not inside the grid). The game does handle the error somewhat gracefully, giving me an ingame message about it rather than just crashing.

The pieces of track you are given in each level seem to be a bit random. The first two levels I've been given in several games to be easy.
The first level 3 I was given, which introduced tiles with cows in them, I found difficult. On my second try (after replaying the first two levels), I succeeded. I had to do some quick work with the movable track ends and the two 90 degree curves I was given.
The level 4 I was given was very difficult. I didn't have enough time to move the cow tiles and track tiles around. It would be nice if one did not have to start all over from level 1 upon derailing.

I considered the music during gameplay to be too repetitive after a while.

Scores: Overall 3 Artistical 3 Technical 3 Genre 2

Review by Eric_Love all reviews by Eric_Love

?u?o's game Train is all about keeping the train on the tracks by sliding and rotating pieces of track. It's easy to control, and quite a fun game.

One feature I would have liked is a "Hurry" function to make the train speed to the next station, rather than waiting for it, although that is the nature of public transport :). It's also frustrating that one mistake is game over, but with the Hurry function it wouldn't matter so much.

With games like this I often hack the code to add features I want, but Train was written in Pascal, which I didn't know was possible with Allegro.

Trains and railways are central to the game, while I couldn't really see the time theme much, although I was alternately cursing (a) long wait for the train to reach a station or (b) the lack of time to set the tracks at the start of a hard level. I couldn't find of ASCII art apart from the title & help screens.

Scores: Overall 4 Artistical 5 Technical 2 Genre 2