133 replies to this topic

[mimo]

PacManPlus, on Sat Jan 9, 2010 11:38 PM, said:

Also, for Preppie!! I changed one of the colors to make it easier to see on the PAL system.

Bob

My failing eyesight thanks you:D

[Albert]

For those of you anxious to get a copy of FailSafe in cartridge form, a FailSafe Label Contest is now underway!   The contest runs through the end of the month:

FailSafe Label Contest

I look forward to seeing some great entries!

..Al

[DracIsBack]

What a game! Can't wait to get a real copy! Great work, Bob!

[TrekMD]

This is awesome!  Count me in for a cart as well.

[HARMIK]

This looks awesome great work Bob

[Nathan Strum]

Suggestion: It seems a bit odd that a Jeep can take out a tank with one hit (yes, I know... portable anti-tank weapons). Maybe Jeeps should have to hit you twice? The first time slows you down, and perhaps you can pick up a repair power-up (or be repaired by whatever power-up you find next) to speed back up.

Also, I find it frustrating that the player tank doesn't fire at 45° angles, but the enemies seem to.

Edited by Nathan Strum, Fri Jan 29, 2010 5:01 AM.

[nonner242]

Nathan Strum, on Fri Jan 29, 2010 4:58 AM, said:

Suggestion: It seems a bit odd that a Jeep can take out a tank with one hit (yes, I know... portable anti-tank weapons). Maybe Jeeps should have to hit you twice? The first time slows you down, and perhaps you can pick up a repair power-up (or be repaired by whatever power-up you find next) to speed back up.

Also, I find it frustrating that the player tank doesn't fire at 45° angles, but the enemies seem to.

Agree on the Jeeps!
But Im not sure on how I feel about the 45* angles...I hate that you cannot, but...It does make it abit more challenging...Sooo
..I still hate it....but

[Underball]

Nathan Strum, on Fri Jan 29, 2010 4:58 AM, said:

Also, I find it frustrating that the player tank doesn't fire at 45° angles, but the enemies seem to.

I find this actually plays into the whole strategy of sneaking up on the guns. They shoot at 45 degrees, but you shoot at about 30-35, so you can position yourself ina  spot where you can hit them, but they can't hit you - if you're a good tank driver!

[Cafeman]

This looks awesome, I always loved Countermeasure on 5200/A8. I own a 7800 but I never tried a 7800 emulator to try WIP's. Whats the best 7800 emulator?

[GroovyBee]

Cafeman, on Mon Feb 1, 2010 7:20 PM, said:

Whats the best 7800 emulator?

I use ProSystem for developing. You can get the latest version 1.3e from here :-
http://www.atariage....ost__p__1766481

[Cafeman]

Yep, Prosystem was easier for me to set up compared to MESS, and it plays FailSafe 7800 just fine! I played all three skill levels (those long shots got me in hard!). Cool. I like the scrolling and the powerups especially.

[PacManPlus]

Underball, on Sat Jan 30, 2010 9:43 PM, said:

Nathan Strum, on Fri Jan 29, 2010 4:58 AM, said:

Also, I find it frustrating that the player tank doesn't fire at 45° angles, but the enemies seem to.

I find this actually plays into the whole strategy of sneaking up on the guns. They shoot at 45 degrees, but you shoot at about 30-35, so you can position yourself ina  spot where you can hit them, but they can't hit you - if you're a good tank driver!

This was the exact reason I did this.  The game was too difficult the other way.  I use this to my advantage all of the time while testing.

Regarding the jeeps shooting the tanks, I figured the jeeps kill you in the original with one shot, so I never even thought about changing it.

Thanks!
Bob

[miker]

Here's the result of my playing:



Have some suggestions:

- extra tank every 30.000 points (I know there are such powerups, but not too often)

- increased possiblity of appearing "E" when you altmost run out of fuel (yeah, I ended my game at level 5 hit by one of bazooka-men(?) but otherwise i would die because of empty fule tank)

- better music on title (i suppose it isn't POKEY one) -> don't tread it too seriuos

Yeah, and if hit by jeeps and bazookas the tank should slow down etc. 100% agreed with Nathan's post above.

Overall - not nad game, pity that not on A8 too.

[PacManPlus]

Thanks!

Ok, I added the 'Bonus Tank every 30,000 points'.  BUT - you *can* make it to the end of each level on the fuel you have, I've done it even on the Advanced level.  (I need to leave some of the challenge there)
You are correct; I am not using POKEY but the standard TIA sounds.  Trying to avoid the need of a special board.

Thanks for the suggestions!


ALSO - I have added back the ability to scroll backwards.  Please let me know - does it add to gameplay?  Take away from it?  Should I leave it?
Please note, any enemy that you may have passed without killing will *not* be there if you scroll backward.

THANKS!
Bob

Attached Files

•  FAILSAFE.zip   37.71K   180 downloads

[gambler172]

Hi Bob
Backward scrolling is ok.
greetings Walter

[AdeptRapier]

PacManPlus, on Sun Feb 14, 2010 7:34 PM, said:

Thanks!

Ok, I added the 'Bonus Tank every 30,000 points'.  BUT - you *can* make it to the end of each level on the fuel you have, I've done it even on the Advanced level.  (I need to leave some of the challenge there)
You are correct; I am not using POKEY but the standard TIA sounds.  Trying to avoid the need of a special board.

Thanks for the suggestions!


ALSO - I have added back the ability to scroll backwards.  Please let me know - does it add to gameplay?  Take away from it?  Should I leave it?
Please note, any enemy that you may have passed without killing will *not* be there if you scroll backward.

THANKS!
Bob

Hey Bob!!

I love the "scrolling backwards" option, it really adds another aspect to the game.  What about making the scrolling an "option" from the main menu, or selected by the difficulty switch? The best of both worlds!!

Keep up the great work and good luck on Frenzy!!!!!

AdeptRapier

[HammR25]

PacManPlus, on Sun Feb 14, 2010 7:34 PM, said:

Thanks!

Ok, I added the 'Bonus Tank every 30,000 points'.  BUT - you *can* make it to the end of each level on the fuel you have, I've done it even on the Advanced level.  (I need to leave some of the challenge there)
You are correct; I am not using POKEY but the standard TIA sounds.  Trying to avoid the need of a special board.

Thanks for the suggestions!


ALSO - I have added back the ability to scroll backwards.  Please let me know - does it add to gameplay?  Take away from it?  Should I leave it?
Please note, any enemy that you may have passed without killing will *not* be there if you scroll backward.

THANKS!
Bob

No bin file.  That's just mean.  

[PacManPlus]

HammR25, on Tue Feb 16, 2010 6:24 AM, said:

No bin file.  That's just mean.  

...oops

anyway, as requested above, I also made the four power-ups that appeared less often (T, E, P, and L) a little more frequent.

I think at this point, it's finished.  

Here are PAL and NTSC A78 and BIN files.

...oh, and:


and the manual:
 FailSafe Manual.pdf   543.99K   200 downloads

Attached Files

•  FAILSAFE.zip   75.3K   185 downloads

[DracIsBack]

PacManPlus, on Wed Feb 17, 2010 9:11 PM, said:

HammR25, on Tue Feb 16, 2010 6:24 AM, said:

No bin file. That's just mean.

...oops

anyway, as requested above, I also made the four power-ups that appeared less often (T, E, P, and L) a little more frequent.

I think at this point, it's finished.

Here are PAL and NTSC A78 and BIN files.

...oh, and:


and the manual:
 FailSafe Manual.pdf   543.99K   200 downloads

Saweet! When do you expect them to go on sale?

[miker]

I played latest version right hour before...

Yeah, bonus tanks really do help a lot.

But I have a question - is it only a matter of randommness/luck to uncover whole deactivating code (either by collecting "L" letters or entering depots)? I just made it to the rocket but having only two first characters of that code.

Weirdo a bit...

Edited by miker, Thu Feb 25, 2010 2:37 PM.

[PacManPlus]

Wow - with the 5 levels that you receive a code, and the possible codes that you get when killing an enemy, I didn't think it was possible to only get two letters.

I figured it out; there is no way to guess the code with only 2 digits even with 60 seconds.  So, I have changed it to an Octal code instead of Hexadecimal.  This means each digit of the code will only be made up of 0-7.  This is solvable with only two known numbers.

All binaries and updated manual attached below.

It will be for sale soon.

Attached Files

•  FailSafe Manual.pdf   550.84K   159 downloads
•  FAILSAFE.A78   48.13K   127 downloads
•  FAILSAFE.BIN   48K   89 downloads
•  FAILSAFP.A78   48.13K   73 downloads
•  FAILSAFP.bin   48K   73 downloads

Edited by PacManPlus, Thu Jan 12, 2012 8:22 AM.

[miker]

Yeah, finished the game! (...or at least first six levels)

Now what's still "not OK" in my opinion:
- I've got destroyed when I was near depot (half of it was visible), then I had to go back a bit to make it accessible, otherwise the screen wasn't going to scroll and let me exit level and to to next one
- I have very little fuel and "E" letter appears - the bar color stays red instead going yellow back when I collected the letter
- strange things happen on right side of the screen (redrawing things); maybe this happens on emu only, I don't have real 7800 already
- maybe I'm wrong, but when shooting the enemy it can fire while it "burns" (or maybe it is done intentionally).

Well - that's all for now. Maybe I'll test the game further in free time, but nothing else doesn't come to mind now...

Greetings!

miker

[PacManPlus]

miker, on Tue Mar 9, 2010 12:32 PM, said:

Yeah, finished the game! (...or at least first six levels)

Cool!  I can finally finish the hardest level (with 5 lives to start)

Quote

- I've got destroyed when I was near depot (half of it was visible), then I had to go back a bit to make it accessible, otherwise the screen wasn't going to scroll and let me exit level and to to next one

I don't think this can happen on the real thing - I will try it out to be sure.

Quote

- I have very little fuel and "E" letter appears - the bar color stays red instead going yellow back when I collected the letter

I can fix that - I've seen that one myself.

Quote

- strange things happen on right side of the screen (redrawing things); maybe this happens on emu only, I don't have real 7800 already

I don't notice anything odd on the right side of the screen using ProSystem or the real thing...  and I've played it a *lot*.  What emulator are you using?

Quote

- maybe I'm wrong, but when shooting the enemy it can fire while it "burns" (or maybe it is done intentionally).

Not possible - there's an enemy 'type' flag that gets changed when the enemy is 'dying' - the enemy 'shoot' routine skips anything that isn't an actual enemy.

Thanks, Mike!
Bob

[PacManPlus]

Hi:

This fixes the "not scrolling" issue and the "E" issue with the color not turning back after a full tank.

Thanks,
Bob

[Marc Oberhäuser]

And as always, here is the box to Failsafe. The great artwork is from JAH FISH, NONNER242 AND STUG MEISTER:)

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