The Pit Jr.
A Pico-8 remake of the little known, seldom remembered 1982 coin-op game "The Pit". This simple game is often cited as the inspiration for Boulderdash and other digging games, and features a careful descent into a rock-strewn cavern, the daring acquisition of precious gems, and a heart-stopping escape through the terrifying pit, where lurks the ravenous monster... at least, that's how it must have seemed to early-80s kids.
You can see gameplay from the original here: YouTube
Controls: directions to move, x to fire laser.
I've tried to recreate the distinct features of the arcade original, warts and all, including the unique movement, the simple graphics and the enemy behaviour. It also includes a lot of janky luck-based gameplay that will have you tearing your hair out - just like the original!
Liberty has been taken with the level layout, given the reduced resolution, and I've opted for eight set levels, rather than an endless rotating two-layout format.
This is my first Pico-8 game, though not my first game. I released one other title - The Pit for the ZX Spectrum! Hey, what can I say? I just really like The Pit!
I managed to fit most of what I wanted in, though ran up against the token limit. Features I was glad to find space for:
- Demo attract mode
- Persistent high scores
Changelog
v1.0 - initial release
v1.1 - prevent digging through rocks
v1.2 - improve level 3
v1.3 - fix high score bug
What an oddity....
There's a lot to like about this game. I love the spaceship dropping you off and taking you away when you leave. I love the bouncing alien in the acid pit, even if this does seem to break the logic of moving / falling into empty space. The tank as a timer is good and the use of split-screen (not in the original) to make levels bigger was a good idea.
What I didn't like (and watching your video it seems to be in the original) is the "unique movement". I don't think there's ever an advantage or need to move at less than a full player block, so this ability to be slightly off is really, really, annoying. It makes getting in / out of the pit really hard and also whether you survive falling into the acid almost random.
What about making a "modern mode" when you move a grid square at a time?
Finally there is a bug: On the high-score input, the cart can crash, by pressing down and going below "a" and selecting the letters.
Thanks for the comment, phil!
I agree completely about the movement, it can be infuriating, and was very much like that in Arcade version. You can see the player in the video struggling to get out of the jewel room there too.
I left it in because I wanted to stay as true to the original as possible, and the "unique movement" is part of that old game, like it or loathe it (mostly loathe).
I went through the same indecision about whether to "fix" it when I did the Spectrum port as well, but kept it there too. Without it, it just isn't the same game, and I do love the original a lot.
I sometimes wonder why they decided to code it that way, and I suspect (though have no proof) that it was done to artificially increase the difficulty. When you are limited to character square movement, it makes the alignment aspects trivial...
Probably too late for this version, but maybe one day I'll release a remix of it as the "modern" version you speak of.
(and thanks for the bug report, an easy fix thankfully)
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