Simple Horizontal Shooter (WIP)

[+Random Terrain]

I've been meaning to make something like this since 2008 when I found out that the icing on the cake didn't have to be a disadvantage. Other stuff kept getting in the way when I wasn't being forgetful or lazy. Since I'm going to be moving soon, it's hard to concentrate on anything major, so I took a couple of days and made this little program while I had the chance:

 

ex_shoot_with_scrolling_2018y_09m_28d_1825t.bin

 

 

It's unfinished and I'm not sure about the sound effects, but it's good enough to show to people. And at the moment, you can move your ship in all directions, but it doesn't seem to be necessary. I'll probably remove the ability to move left and right in the next version.

 

 

Instructions

 

Press the fire button to shoot or flip the left difficulty to A to shoot without needing to press the fire button. The enemies will get harder to destroy the longer you play. They are worth 20 points. A bonus item will appear once in a while. It is worth 100 points.

 

The bar to the right of the score will decrease if the enemies get past your ship or if your ship hits them. Game is over when the bar is gone.

 

High score is remembered until the Atari is turned off or the emulator is closed.

[+save2600]

Super neato! Kinda reminds me a little of Parsec.

[+Lewis2907]

Looks pretty good so far. Will there be an option if possible to go left and Chase the ones that got past you to increase the bar? Probably hard to implement that, just a thought.

[+Random Terrain]

Looks pretty good so far. Will there be an option if possible to go left and Chase the ones that got past you to increase the bar? Probably hard to implement that, just a thought.

 

I'll have to go past 4k to add anything else, but I thought that you might be able to add to the bar by earning something like 1,000 points.

[+thanatos]

Super neato! Kinda reminds me a little of Parsec.

 

Wow. I scroll down to the first comment and you have the exact thought I had! I was jealous of the neighborhood kid that could play Parsec whenever he wanted!

[+GoldLeader]

Awesome! I'll check it out when I can.

[CX40Hero]

Hard as nails just with a keyboard, Ill have to revisit it when I can use my CX40, Its a really fun game all the same though, I barely made it over a 1000!

[+Karl G]

It's a great start! Do you plan on expanding it beyond 4K, you think?

[+Random Terrain]

It's a great start! Do you plan on expanding it beyond 4K, you think?

 

I'm out of room, so I'll have to go beyond 4K if enough people seem to want this turned into something that resembles a finished game. I'll just have to wait until after I move to do any more to it. Time to get serious about packing. The good news is that most of my stuff is still in boxes from the last move.

[Lodmot]

Pretty cool! The graphics in this are actually really nice, they look almost on-par with Intellevision/ColecoVision. And no flicker > u <

[Brian O]

Coming along nicely. Any way to get your health bar back up? Perhaps a second type of powerup that fills your bar half way?

 

Perhaps a powerup to give you different types of weapons?

Edited September 29, 2018 by Brian O

[+Random Terrain]

Coming along nicely. Any way to get your health bar back up? Perhaps a second type of powerup that fills your bar half way?

 

Perhaps a powerup to give you different types of weapons?

 

I was thinking maybe you could earn getting your health bar back up with enough points. Whatever number would be fair. I'm not married to any idea. Whatever would be more fun.

 

The laser-like stuff you're shooting is the "icing on the cake" I mentioned in this thread back in 2008:

 

atariage.com/forums/topic/125144-how-do-i-get-the-icing-off-my-cake-no-blank-lines-and-pfcolors/

 

All I have to do is scroll the playfield and the thin icing ends up looking like a distant cousin of the laser in arcade Defender. Since I'm using the icing on the cake trick, I'm kind of stuck with that type of weapon. I'm also using the standard kernel with player1colors pfcolors no_blank_lines, so I have two sprites and the ball. Although the missiles are gone, they can be brought back in a limited way:

---

   ;****************************************************************
   ;
   ;  The kernel options below cause the loss of missile1 and
   ;  missile0.
   ;
   ;  But the missiles can be used as top to bottom strips using
   ;  ENAM0 = 2 and ENAM1 = 2 and turned off using ENAM0 = 0 and
   ;  ENAM1 = 0. ENAM0{1} = 1 and ENAM1{1} = 1 can also be used.
   ;  The colors of a multi-colored sprite will show up in the
   ;  missile at the same horizontal position. It can be used as a
   ;  bonus item at the side away from the playfield pixels (the
   ;  whole strip will cover up part of the playfield). You must
   ;  be careful because the missile can be touched from top to
   ;  bottom, not just at the spot where you see color.
   ;
   set kernel_options player1colors no_blank_lines pfcolors

---

I could have the player earn the ability to shoot that special kind of missile, but it would be like a wave that would kill the enemy no matter where it is on the screen. Maybe double tapping the joystick to the left would shoot the "heat wave missile" or whatever it would end up being called.

[+ZeroPage Homebrew]

Heya Random Terrain, we'll be featuring Simple Horizontal Shooter LIVE on today's ZeroPage Homebrew stream on Twitch at 2PM PT/5PM ET! I've always wanted to make a shooter like this and the foundation of a game you have here is amazing, I have so many ideas!!

Twitch Stream: https://www.twitch.tv/zeropagehomebrew/

Other Games Today:
- Kuru Kuru Tsuchinoko (WIP) by mojofltr
- Lost Cat (WIP) by Jared Gray West
- Castle of Doom (WIP) by Chris Read

 

Edited October 9, 2018 by cimmerian

[+Random Terrain]

I'm working on this again. I came up with a name for it:

 

Watchdog 606

 

When I have a better version ready that is closer to being a finished game, I'll create a new thread for it. Below are story ideas and thoughts on possible gameplay.

 

Story

 

A barrier was placed around our solar system thousands of years ago by a council made up of various benevolent alien races. The main purpose of the barrier was to protect us from any further DNA editing by low vibrational aliens. Since we were safe for so long, the council eventually became inattentive. Thanks to the council's neglect, evil aliens have been chipping away at the barrier for decades in one general area in an attempt to create a corridor large enough for a fleet of ships to come through. That corridor has finally been completed and a fleet is on the way.

 

As an important member of a top-secret Space Force operation called Watchdog 606, you must fly a spaceship called the Argon into the the corridor and destroy any enemy alien ships that are tying to reach Earth.

 

 

Possible Gameplay Ideas

https://atariage.com/forums/topic/289553-multicolored-player-or-multicolored-enemies-which-is-more-important/?do=findComment&comment=4246671

The thin line that the ship is shooting can be any color. Maybe the player could upgrade his or her weapon and the color could graduate from blue to green to yellow, then to red.

 

Instead of forcing the player to fight through a set pattern of bad guys, then fighting a "boss," maybe the player could choose when to fight the boss. Maybe the player could fight enemies of a lower rank until the weapon is upgraded to red, then the player could go after the boss since that would give the player better odds. It might be possible to defeat the boss with a weapon that hasn't been upgraded to red, but it would be much harder.

Edited December 17, 2019 by Random Terrain