Does the player get to do anything in this one, or is it just a kernel demo?

supercat, on Wed Nov 23, 2005 11:10 PM, said:

Just a kernel demo, written in a short amount of time. I hope it is not hard to imagine what the player does. I edited the first post to make it more clear that the kernel doesn't do much.

An interesting idea, though clearly inspired by a certain pill-munching game    A couple of ideas that came to me while looking at the demo:

• Since the crystals provide the light, it might be an idea to make the maze go dark when you collect them - this would make the game a test of memory also.   I suspect you don't have enough kernel time to change COLUPF regularly, so an alternative would be to make a row of the maze go black when all the crystals on that row have been collected?
  
• The sand and worms sound like something out of Dune.   Perhaps the worms could extend out of the sand, rather than running round the maze?

Chris

Hi there!

Wow! Inventive as ever! So the purple thing is a quadsized sprite? This could be the way to port Konamis Jungler Arcade to the VCS, no?

As always, I appreciate the comments. I realize the similarities to a popular maze game, yet there are enough differences to make this more than a knock-off. If I design it right, you won't be able to collect all the crystals within the time limit, and the challenge will be to pick up as many as you can. Also the worms will behave differently from enemies in other game. They will be invincible and non-lethal. Instead of chasing you, they will wander the maze on their own, and will just get in the way.

Nice observation about Dune, Chris. I hadn't noticed any similarities before. The worms were inspired by the ubiquitous snake game. Yes, the bodies of the worms will be drawn wih a quad-width sprite, and working out the shapes will be the most challenging part of the kernel.

Blacking out rows after the crystals are picked up would indeed add an extra challenge, but I figure Jack will be able to see just fine since he is carrying energy crystals. I've already got the design of this game worked out. In fact Catacombs of Mu is based on a DOS game I did a few years ago. I can post it when I get a chance to borrow a computer with a disk drive.

I like this; it sounds fun.  And I agree, I think there are enough twists on the standard maze-game formula (especially the time limit) to make it a worthwhile endeavor.