Miami Ice (Compute's Gazette)

Ah, Miami-sun city of the South. A sparkling metropolis blessed with a tropical climate, palm trees, beaches, revived art deco architecture, stylish pastels, and classy elegance. Almost paradise.%% You wake up on another bright, sunny Miami morning, sip a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice, don your white linen suit and sunglasses, and stroll outside then get the shock of your life. What's going on here? Overnight, a freak shift in the jet streams has piped a blistering cold front down from Ohio. The weatherman had predicted a brief shower last evening, but that's not what happened. Instead, the Florida peninsula was blasted by the worst ice storm in 400 years. The Everglades are frozen solid. The pink flamingos are blue. And the streets of Miami are coated with a shimmering layer of slippery ice. As you start your car-the pampered engine coughs and sputters in the bitter cold-you wonder what it's going to be like driving to work. A Miami native, you've never driven on ice before. In fact, you've never even seen this much ice since your boss's retirement party last year, when the caterers made that life-size ice sculpture of Ponce de Leon. You've heard the horror stories told by tourists about winter driving conditions up North, but never thought it could happen to you-not here, in Miami. The minute you pull out onto the street, your worst fears come true. When you step on the gas pedal, the wheels spin and the car accelerates sluggishly. When you turn the steering wheel, the car slides all over the road. And when you step on the brakes-well, forget it. You realize, desperately, that you've got to make it to the parking garage across town without smashing your car to smithereens. It won't be easy. But at least there's one thing in your favor-you've got the whole road to yourself. Everyone else, it seems, had the good sense to stay home.
The article for this game can be found on page 17 (Special 1988): https://archive.org/details/1988-special-computegazette/page/n17/mode/2up

Why TAS This Game?

As mentioned in my two previous Compute's Gazette submissions, I wish to continuing seeing my memories of these games come to new light. With Astro-Panic!, a TAS was certainly necessary to see the end of the game, as it was way too hard to play. Even the author's comments was teasing me to figure out what was going to happen at the end. Continuing with Royal Rescue, I saw that these simple games were not so limited...yet had an edge to explore over human effort. Now, I am presenting one of the hardest games I've ever played from this beloved magazine series. It was so hard, that I was never was able to see the end. Even though most of the graphics aren't appealing by today's standard, contributors to the magazine knew how to create games that challenged its subscribers with game play...especially me! So I present to you, my 3rd installment of a Compute's Gazette classic, that was featured in a "Special" edition in the year 1988.
Previous Compute's Gazette submissions include (In order of submission):

Game Ending Choice

This game features 7 different levels. By the end of screen 7, it repeats that same screen...thus completing the unique content of the game. There is no selection of difficulty, nor increasing thereof.

Human Comparison

Here is the only video I could find, of someone suffering through the first level...then eventually making it to the second.

feos: Claiming for judging.
feos: Great movie!
After this description I was really curious how this game actually plays, and after several hours of saveloads (only between levels though), I was able to beat it. Controls are VERY BAD, but the idea is excellent.
By poking around I couldn't improve anything in this run. Accepting.

despoa: Processing...
feos: Woops forgot to replace.


TASVideoAgent
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This topic is for the purpose of discussing #7895: nymx's C64 Miami Ice in 02:47.94
nymx
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I had a feeling that Screen 7 was not optimal, and I was right. After trying some ideas, I finally realized something about the mechanics that aren't quite clear; however, I was able to reproduce it to provide a new updated movie file with 67 frames improvement. Basically, I found that the car's turning can be controlled in a minor way with the accelerator. What this means is that I was able to turn faster and cut the corner in a sharper manner. It seems to be more of a timer used to control the rate of the car's turn, and not lag as I originally attributed it to. I'm still not 100% sure of this, but the idea did help to cut more than I expected across all screens. Judge or Admin...the following link is the updated movie. Thanks. https://tasvideos.org/UserFiles/Info/638078882108778631
I recently discovered that if you haven't reached a level of frustration with TASing any game, then you haven't done your due diligence. ---- SOYZA: Are you playing a game? NYMX: I'm not playing a game, I'm TASing. SOYZA: Oh...so its not a game...Its for real? ---- Anybody got a Quantum computer I can borrow for 20 minutes? Nevermind...eien's 64 core machine will do. :) ---- BOTing will be the end of all games. --NYMX
Post subject: Movie published
TASVideoAgent
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This movie has been published. The posts before this message apply to the submission, and posts after this message apply to the published movie. ---- [5046] C64 Miami Ice by nymx in 02:47.94