PrinceWatercress plays Catacastles

This may be the simplest game I've played since...well, it's hard to tell. I've played a few games on the Beeb that are easy to play. But at least with this type-in game, you and a friend can tear into each other with reckless abandon.

Longplay

Catacastles is a type-in game for the BBC Micro written by Thomas Evans with the code made freely available in Volume 3, Issue 1 of The Micro User from March 1985. The game is two-player only, and can be played with just one button.

Believe it or not, there is a story to this game, but unless you actually read the issue of The Micro User from which this came from, you'd have no idea.

Many years ago there lived a sorcerer in the land of Wong. On his many voyages and adventures he captured one item which he value more than all else - a ruby with strong magical powers.

Also in the land of Wong lived a mighty baron. One day at a feast, long after the sorcerer had finished his last adventure, the baron saw the ring and wanted it at once.

At midnight, he sent one of his minions into the sorcerer's chamber to steal the ring. The minion, the baron and his followers then sped back to the baron's castle.

The next day the sorcerer realized what had happened and was furious. He called on the eagle king to act as judge and a vicious battle of magic ensured between the sorcerer and the baron who now had the ring.

Both were quickly drained of their magic until they died, devoid of all power, and the ring disintegrated.

But the battle went on using catapults - you and another player succeeded the baron and the sorcerer.

Both players play as barons who are shooting at each others' castles with catapults. CAPS LOCK is used for the left player, while COPY is used for the right player. (On my keyboard with BeebEm, it was CAPS LOCK for the left player and End acting as the COPY key for the right player. Your emulator's default key settings may vary.) Both players press and hold their respective buttons to launch shots from their respective catapults. The longer a player holds the button, the higher the angle that the shot is fired. If a player hits a bird, the bird will carry their shot until they press their respective button again to drop the shot straight down.

Both players will go at it destroying each others' castles with their catapults, and whoever completely destroys their opponent's castle first wins. You can hit the other person's catapult to temporarily disable it for a few seconds, and if the person behind the catapult gets hit, they will turning away from their catapult and be stunned, leaving them unable to do anything for a few seconds.

Despite being a pretty simple game, there is some trial and error in seeing how the shots work and how high and how far the shots go, which makes for some hilarious hijinks as both players attempt to tear at each other. I do like the idea of the bird flying back and forth with the potential to be used like a bomber plane against the opponent, but it takes some time to set up, which can be a bit of a risk. It's still fun, though.

With that, there's not much else to say about the game. The graphics are simple, but easily identifiable. The sound is basic, but serviceable and works like it is supposed to. The gameplay is boiled down to one button and how long you hold it (or for weak shots, how quickly you press it), and when typed in properly, there were not any errors to speak of in the code. Your mileage may vary with this game, but it's still a nice game that's easy to pick up and play. Thankfully, the game in its complete state is easy to find, so you might as well check this one out; it's definitely worth giving a try even if for just a few minutes.