SpiceWare's Blog - Less Chatty

RSS Bot · September 21, 2017

Done:

reduced chattiness ("Alert! Alert!" said less frequently)
new gamma level
tightened up formations
don't spawn spy ship, formations, or say "Alert! Alert!" if player is dead (was causing issues when returning to main menu after game over)
Station explosions are now deadly to enemy ships
Revisions to Difficulty Ramp Up
Updates to address screen jitter
* Revised how work is spread over multiple frames
* Gave 5 ticks of TIM64T from Vertical Blank to Overscan (this shifts screen image slightly upward)

For you:

Please give feedback on the Difficulty Ramp Up for the different difficulty levels (kids, easy, normal, hard).
Please report any bugs not listed in the To Do list.
Please test on real hardware and report if any level jitters - be sure to specify Quadrant, Sector and Difficulty Level you saw it on.

To Do:

fine-tune Level Progression
beginning of next sector (not new game) and next ship - slightly longer pause showing radar before the ship starts to move.
longer pause after player's ship is destroyed.
Nathan spotted a collision detection glitch, see details page 9 of Draconian Sound Effects PM have not been able to recreate
BUG: if your last star fighter crashes into the last station of a sector the game over message appears, but you'll also start the next sector with 0 lives remaining.
Remaining sound effects from ieposta
E-Type launched by station should be destroyed if it collides with mines or asteroids.
Lengthen duration of Mine Explosions
Bonus Lives
If Red Alert active when last ship is destroyed the Red Alert sound repeats in menu
If player flies AWAY FROM the side the spy-ship is exiting, condition red can be triggered right away even if the spy ship has additional passes remaining.