Submission #8580: nymx's C64 Bee Zone in 00:42.47

Collect the honey of giant bees in this fast-action arcade-style game for the 64. It's never been this much fun to be caught in a hive.

It is common knowledge that the Giant Honeybee, found only in "Bee Zone," is the most productive of all honey producing bees. A single Giant can out-produce a whole hive of common honeybees. Because of the size of the bees (the largest are six feet long), collecting their honey is a lucrative, yet dangerous business.

The article for this game can be found on page 29 of Compute's Gazette Issue 51 (September 1987)

The continuation of TASing games from my all-time favorite magazine, Compute's Gazette. This makes my 31st TAS from this series.

This game wasn't that exciting. It was one that I typed in, with the hopes that it would satisfy, but quickly stopped playing after a few tries. On the other hand, it was a perfect game for TASing...as the only real opportunity was to control the normal honey bees from getting in your path and stopping the Queen Bee from ever showing up.

Previous Compute's Gazette submissions include (In order of submission):

Although it may be really short, playing one round is all that is needed to demonstrate unique content...as any follow-up levels are not increasing in difficulty/speed and no new enemies are exposed.

I'v held onto this game for a while, trying to make sure that my choice of ending was correct. Finally, I have realized that one round is all that is needed to show unique content. During the creation of this movie, I was able to perform the same types of RNG work that I have done on many other C64 games (written in ML), where RNG was controlled by applying different joystick inputs or key presses. After a little bit of effort, I was able to complete an entire round without having the "Queen Bee" show up, which obviously makes the TAS longer.

I wasn't happy with this video, but this was the best one that I could find. The biggest irritation that I had, is the frame rate...but it accurately demonstrates my point for human efforts.

DrD2k9: Claiming for judging.

DrD2k9: Regarding ending/unique content: The only game content not seen in this TAS is the Queen Bee herself. Given that she refills the honeycomb cells with new honey, allowing her to arrive only prolongs the run (as mentioned in the submission notes).

This run may set a precedent regarding unique content for endless games.

In my opinion, the one stage completed in this run is the final stage on which new content is introduced, even though that particular content isn't itself shown due to RNG manipulation. I see no reason to force a longer (and less optimal, IMO) run simply in order to show this content. So my personal stance on when unique content can be considered exhausted in an endless game, is when the first stage where the last unique content would otherwise be introduced has been beaten. If a player can find a way to manipulate out that last unique content from the final level, I don't feel further levels should be required; nor do I feel that it should be required to actually show the final unique content if it would force a given stage to become sub-optimal in completion time to do so.

Accepting.

despoa: Processing...