CX16-Othello (reversi)

[ifilot]

Othello for the Commander X16 is a modern adaptation of the classic strategy board game, tailored for the retro charm of the X16 platform. Known for its simple yet strategic gameplay, Othello challenges players to outmaneuver their opponent by flipping discs (stones) on an 8x8 board. The objective is to have the majority of stones in your color when the board is filled.

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(Note: when running this game in the online emulator, press CTRL+M to capture the mouse. When done playing, press CTRL+M again to stop capturing the mouse)

cx16-othello.gif (1.4 MiB) Viewed 4281 times

Game features

• Various playmodes including human versus human, human versus computer and even computer versus computer
• Three different board sizes: 6x6, 8x8 and 10x10 tiles
• Two different board styles: stone and wood
• Choose between 10 different stone colors
• Joystick support (menu works only with keyboard)
• Mouse support
• Background music and sound effects when placing stones

Technical details

• Game is primarily written in C with a few custom 6502 assembly routines
• Source code can be found in this Github repository
• Game has been tested on R47 (both emulator and real hardware)

TRY IT NOW

[natebarney]

Wow, this is gorgeous! The graphics are really nice and the music is fantastic! Nice that you added an AI opponent too. Really fun, thanks for sharing this! If I could only make one suggestion, it feels like a mouse interface would really fit well with this game.

[ifilot]

Thank you for the kind words.

I agree, adding a mouse interface would indeed fit well for this game. I am going to look into this and add it as a feature for v1.1.0.

[ifilot]

Good news! Version 1.1.0 has been released with the following changes:

• Adding mouse support (suggested by natebarney)
• Diagonally scrolling background (suggested by Crisps)
• Revamped sound assets (created by Crisps)
• Slight improvements in AI capabilities

[natebarney]

The mouse support is nice! And the AI is indeed a little stronger. I have a few comments, but feel free to take them or leave them.

• When the mouse is over the board, it continually snaps the tile cursor back to where the mouse pointer is, even if I try to move it with the keyboard. It might be better to make the mouse only highlight a tile when it moves. That way, keyboard or gamepad play would work a little better. I was able to get the keyboard controls to work by moving the mouse pointer off of the board entirely.
• I actually preferred the music in v1.0.0. The new music is good, but to me, it feels a bit too energetic for a thinky game like Othello.
• I don't know how I feel about the diagonally scrolling background. It's cool, but again, feels a bit too high energy. It definitely gives the game a bit more panache though. Maybe if it scrolled more slowly it might be less distracting.

Really nice work though!

Edit: I had the game running at the title screen as I was typing this, and after a while (maybe 5-10 minutes?) the music just stopped. It also doesn't start again when I begin a new game. Not sure if this is intentional.

[ifilot]

Great feedback! Thanks!

• The mouse would benefit from having its own 'cursor' and not share the cursor used by the keyboard / gamepad.
• The music in version 1.0.0 was "re-tracked" from another game so I am not sure whether this could result in copyright infringement. The music I have now is custom-made piece (which I paid for) to avoid that. I personally liked the music very much, but I can see why you find it a bit too energetic.
• The diagonally scrolling background can be a setting in the menu such that the user can set the scrolling speed to make it move more slowly.
• Thanks for the heads-up about the music stopping. It should keep on playing in a continuous loop so I have to look into that as well.

[desertfish]

That looks beautiful. Can you make a "try it now" link perhaps as well?

[ifilot]

Thank you for the kind words and the suggestion. I have added a "try it now" link (see top post).

[Edmond D]

Thanks for creating the game, I've enjoyed attempting to play it. I'm encountering issues with using the mouse in the online emulator, which isn't your problem to fix. The keyboard doesn't seem to work for me in gameplay, what mapping is used?

As for the comments, I do find the music and background distracting from gameplay. Muting is easy, the checkerboard pattern is manageable for a short period of time.

All of these items ar minor, and makes me want to build my X16 system to play it on real hardware. Unfortunately this Summer is super busy for me and I can't afford to revert to my 14 year old self with no real responsibilities with a VIC-20 like system to occupy my waking hours.

[ifilot]

Thank you for the compliments and the feedback!

• I also experience mouse issues within the online emulator, but I believe it is caused by incorrectly capturing the mouse. Hitting CTRL+M helps. Do not forget to type CTRL+M again once you are done playing.
• Keyboard mappings are: arrow keys to move the cursor and space to place the tile. Your question lets me realize I need to add an option in the menu to show a small help screen explaining these mappings and perhaps the gameplay.
• I am going to add an option to mute the sound and/or tune the volume and also to disable background scrolling.