Jump to content

70sgamefan

Members
  • Posts

    29
  • Joined

  • Last visited

About 70sgamefan

  • Birthday 04/18/1968

Contact / Social Media

Profile Information

  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    Phoenix, AZ
  • Interests
    70s and early 80s video games.

70sgamefan's Achievements

Space Invader

Space Invader (2/9)

0

Reputation

  1. NEW UPDATE AVAILABLE FOR XTREME BEAM VECTOR ARCADE! 100% NATIVE RETINA SUPPORT FOR ALL BITMAP AND VECTOR GRAPHICS! UPDATED FOR THE NEW iPAD AIR and RETINA iPAD MINI! iCADE SUPPORT ADDED! ---------------------------------------- XTREME BEAM - General Updates ---------------------------------------- - ALL BITMAP and VECTOR GRAPHICS are now RETINA RESOLUTION! The App graphics and colors are now updated specifically for the Retina Display of the new iPad Air! This is the best the App has ever looked on the Retina iPad and Retina iPad Mini! - iCADE ARCADE CABINET support added! You can now control the game with the most popular arcade cabinet controls. - Minor Bug fixes. ---------------------------------------- STAR CANNON - Specific Updates ---------------------------------------- - NEW CONTROL PANEL ART and ARCADE BUTTONS! - NEW MONITOR BEZEL ART now surrounds the Virtual Vector Monitor! - DYNALAY now color cycles the Control Panel, Bezel and Arcade Button colors, in addition to the Overlay colors! - Player Bullet Lifespan is now distance based, instead of timer based.
  2. NEW UPDATE AVAILABLE FOR XTREME BEAM VECTOR ARCADE! NATIVE RETINA SUPPORT FOR THE VECTOR GRAPHICS! -------------------------------------- XTREME BEAM - General Updates -------------------------------------- - Native Retina Support for the vector graphics! Vector lines are now sharper and better defined on the Retina displays. On Retina displays, the vector graphics look even more authentic than they did before! - New Color Overlay option called, Hide Overlay! This new option gives the appearance of a color vector monitor, by making the overlay invisible, though it still tints the vectors and backdrop art with color. - The Start button, on the control panel, now serves double duty as a pause/resume button. Making it possible to pause and resume the game during play. - Joypad integration has been improved by using the latest Joypad SDK. The erratic, unwanted, pop-up alert during game play, from within the Joypad app, has been eliminated. - Minor Bug fixes. ---------------------------------------- STAR CANNON - Specific Updates ---------------------------------------- - Homing mine AI improvements. Mines are smarter now when pursuing the player's ship. Mine ring riding duration has been slightly reduced. As Mine speed increases, the duration of time for which they can pass through ring segments, without colliding and attaching to them, is reduced. - At the start of a game, the number of player ships has been increased from 3 to 6. This will help beginners to progress more easily and allow higher scoring potential for all players.
  3. Video Trailer for XTREME BEAM: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=KkwoiJUq-Z0 Note that the app looks better on an actual iPad device than it does in the iPhone video in the above trailer. The crappy iPhone camera added a moiree pattern to the video as a mandatory special visual effect.. But at least, as you can see in the video, Star Cannon plays very close to the real thing. In regards to questions about iCade support, no, the app does not support iCade at this time.. Not owning an iCade unit to test on is the primary reason (and it is not a matter of me being cheap, believe me). It definitely could support iCade in the future. Especially if more people would download the app and show an interest in it. It does support the Joypad app, so you can use the Joypad app (which is free to download) on an iPhone or iPod touch as an external controller. Xtreme Beam was a free download for a couple weeks, but not nearly enough people were making a purchase within the app to finance things like iCade support and developing more games for it. So I had to change it to a paid download. Like I state within the app itself, if you want to see more features and games added to it, rate and review the app on the app store at least.. So far, I know one person in Belgium and one person in Italy actually like it. It has apparently made two people happy in the world.. That is a start. And thus far, no one has said they disliked it.. If they have, they are keeping quiet about it lol. The app was updated this past week to make the game play easier on the first 3 waves. Too many low scores on the Game Center leaderboard, and by my friends, showed that it was too hard even in the early stages for the average player who is not a Star Castle veteran. Unlike another recent vector game app (apparently developed by an entire team of people with access to the latest devices), Xtreme Beam does NOT crash, and will run on ALL iPads, including the 1st Generation iPad.. On an iPad2 (a friend's iPad2 that is) it runs flawlessly at a constant 60fps with both DYNALAY and the backdrop art enabled together. On iPad1, it is best to disable the backdrop art, when using the color overlays. The iPad1 does struggle a bit to maintain 60fps if the overlay and backdrop art are enabled together. The backdrop was turned off in the video trailer, because the app was running on an iPad 1 while shooting the game footage.
  4. XTREME BEAM VECTOR ARCADE, featuring STAR CANNON, is now available for download on the App Store for iPad and iPad Mini. Star Cannon, is of course, the first game to appear in the app. I am sure everyone here on this forum will recognize what classic vector game inspired Star Cannon.. You could say that Star Castle has been my muse for a long time.. The plan is for the app to eventually contain multiple vector games, including games with more original concepts. Care was taken to create an app that draws vector lines on the screen in a very similar manner to vintage vector arcade hardware. The app replicates a black and white, bi-level, vector monitor with color overlays. Choose the CLASSIC COLOR overlay for the vintage look or DYNALAY for a dynamic color changing overlay, something that was not possible back in the day.. Or just play in black and white for that bare, white line vector monitor look. Screenshots don't really do the app justice.. You need to see it running on an iPad to fully appreciate it! Set the iPad brightness control to manual and turn the brightness on your iPad screen up to about 75% to 80% intensity for the best simulated vector monitor experience. Link to the App’s webpage: http://www.celtronic...XtremeBeam.html Link to the App’s Twitter page which contains some larger screen shots: http://www.twitter.com/XtremeBeam
  5. I always thought Galaga was a cool game. Last time I played an arcade version of it was the 2001 Galaga / Ms. Pac-Man combo cabinet. That was back in 2002.. You could add a Galaxian machine next to it to keep it company.
  6. A few people here have mentioned Mortal Kombat. Ultimate MK3 generally seems difficult at first when playing against the CPU opponents. The flaw of the CPU opponents in this game is that they are predictable, and tend to respond to things in the same manner repeatedly (over and over again). They never learn from their pre-programmed mistakes. I was unbeatable with SCORPION, in UMK3, against ALL the regular opponents when playing against the CPU at any difficulty level. Jade, Ermac, it didn't matter they were all easily defeated. The key with Scorpion, is his "air throw" move. When used correctly you can get the opponents to charge you and you can repeatedly throw them around (like rag dolls) until you defeat them. This is an example of almost a "cheat" against a coin-op's CPU opponents, do to something perhaps that was overlooked by the programmer.. With Scorpion, my only challenging opponent was Motaro (whom you can't throw) on the highest difficulty setting. Shao Khan laughs and taunts too much, making him an easy target. I always found him easier to beat than Motaro. Everyone else was no contest (unless I tried to play without ever using the air throw manuever), even in the endurance matches. The most difficult opponent of all, of course, was the human 16 year old kid, that would kick your ass and you could hardly do a thing about it lol. The 2-player human versus human matches were an entirely different animal, requiring totally different tactics. I've seen players in head-to-head combat in this game that are unbelieveably good.. Far better than I ever was.
  7. A new iPhone version of Night Raider is now available on the App Stores. No changes to the game play this time other than just making it playable on the iPhone. Anyone who was interested in the game but only owned an iPhone or iPod touch, will now be able to download it and play it. The game will only run on 3rd and 4th generation iPhones and iPod touches. It also requires that you have a minimum of iOS 4.3 installed on your device.
  8. I apologize for taking a while to respond to some of your posts on here, this is the first time I've been on the Atariage forum for almost a month. Ledzep - I appreciate your suggestions. Here is my response regarding them: 1) Night Raider currently uses a rather simplistic and speedy method of collision detection between the ships and the torpedoes. It is in no way pixel perfect. The way I currently have the ships dropping bow down or stern down into the water creates a problem in detecting hits. The collision detection code would need to be rewritten using a different method. The existing collision detection methods that i have used will not work properly for subsequent hits on the ships as they are going under the water. The other reason I have the current system with no more hits after a ship recieves its death blow is so that it's possible to hit overlapping ships with a volley of two to four shots. Your suggested method would make a shield out of ships on the lower rows protecting ships on the upper rows from getting hit when firing three or four torpedoes rapidly one after another. 2). In regards to having the torpedo slow down the closer it gets to the horizon, that is certainly a possibility. The speed of the faster ships on the top row, such as the PT boat, will need to be slowed down in that case or you'll never be able to hit them. Unfortunately, there probably will never be an Android version of Night Raider. The reason for this is due to mediocre interest in the existing iPad version of the game coupled with the fact that I do not own any Android devices nor am I in the Android developer program. On the other hand, there will be an iPhone version of Night Raider available on the App Store very shortly. At the time I developed Night Raider, I did not own an iPhone or iPod touch so that is why the game was initially intended only to be an iPad game. You said, "I hope this starts a trend." I was hoping there would be more interest in classic, old-school style games on the iOS platform. From my experience thus far and from a few other developers, it seems as though the number of iOS device owners that are really interested in these old-school style games make up a small percentage of the user base. One exception was a game called "Box Cat" which used a very pixelated style of graphics with 8-bit chip tune music. I currently have two unfinished projects on the back burner that are are also old-school retro in nature. One is a re-imagining of the old discrete Death Race game, by Exidy. The other is a classic vector style game engine that will draw all game objects using lines in a similar manner as the old vector monitor systems utilized by Cinematronics, Atari & Sega did back in the day. Again though, my concern is that these kind of graphics might be too bland and boring for most mobile gamers of 2012. I am 43 years old so these are the kind of games that I remember as a kid and really get my blood flowing, so to speak. I kind of wish that I had been able to be a part of the creation of some of them back in the day, but of course I was too young at the time and assembly language programming was much too daunting for me. Take for example the recently released iPhone version of the Coastal Amusements Seawolf ticket redemption game. From the App Store rankings and grossing statistics that I have seen, the sales of that game, thus far, have been very mediocre even though it carries the official Seawolf title and logo and has more modern looking graphics and effects than either my game or the original. Ironically, there was an Asian made, almost direct clone of the ticket redemption game released on the App Store over two years ago. I believe it did better sales wise in its first month than the official coastal amusements game has done. ComputerSpaceFan - in the next week or so, an iPhone version of Night Raider will be available on the App Store. The bad news, at least for you, is that it will only run on the 3rd and 4th generation iPhone and iPod touch. For a number of technical reasons, including the fact that the game was originally developed for the iPad, using high-resolution graphic assets, it is primarily targeted for the retina display 960 x 640 screens. On third generation devices it will run in 480 x 320 mode. Second-generation devices will not support the game's sprite sheet, it is simply too big for them to handle. Unlike the coastal amusements iPhone game, Night Raider, on the iPhone, will actually utilize the full 960 x 640 retina display. The coastal amusements game appears to only be using 480 x 320 resolution graphic assets for the game sprites. I see a lot of fuzzy and pixelated edges on the sprites that should not be there if they indeed were using higher resolution assets. If you're more into the ticket redemption style game and graphics go for the coastal amusements app, if you prefer the look and feel of the original 76 game you'd probably like Night Raider better. Or get both for old and new together. Parrothead -Thanks for actually writing and posting that review on your website. I believe yours is the first website review that has ever been written for Night Raider by anyone. It is nice to see that it was a good review at that! I think only 1% of the people that have ever purchased Night Raider have posted a review for it on the App Store. Thanks for your comments guys, let me know what you all think, in general, of old-school games on iOS and other mobile devices. Would you guys like to see more of them, or do you prefer to just play them on the old, original coin-op hardware and consoles?
  9. Here are a couple crudely shot videos using an iPhone camera to demonstrate game play. I've had more than a few people ask why I don't have a video of the game available. Not having a good dedicated video camera, or a newer Mac that is fast enough to capture video from the iPad Simulator, makes it difficult to get a good quality video. Therefore, I had held off making one for that reason. The game, when viewed in person on your iPad, looks as good as it does on the flyer image posted at the beginning of this thread. Totally smooth 60fps movement too, unlike what you see in the video. Anyway, here they are: Night Raider HD - Normal Mode Game Play Night Raider HD - Maniac Mode Game Play Merry Christmas to all you arcade fans out there!
  10. An even newer Night Raider HD version 1.1.1 has just been released on the App Stores today! This latest release includes the following additions and changes: - Progressive speed throttling added to game play. The speed of ships and torpedoes gradually increase as game time passes. - New "Maniac Mode" game setting in Options Menu. The optional Maniac Mode speeds the game up to an insane pace! For those that thought the old game speed was a bit sluggish, try Maniac Mode! It will make your head spin! - PT Boats only emit a single alarm sound when spawning instead of two. With the increased spawning of PT Boats, the dual alarm seemed to get kind of annoying. - Corrected the misspelling of the word "torpedoes" (it was torpedos) in scope view and on instructions screen. http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/night-raider-hd/id430964052?mt=8
  11. Simbalion, nice score getting a hold of that Seawolf cabinet! That is the old game I based Night Raider on. Speaking of Night Raider, I released an update to the game today. It is now called Night Raider HD, to distinguish it from the upcoming iPhone version I am working on. I should have a video of the game play online in the near future.. Some details of what has been changed in the update: - Ship spawning code has been extensively modified. Ships spawn in pairs with a maximum of 6 on screen simultaneously versus only 3 on screen in the previous version. The sea lanes have higher traffic now, with more targets to fire at! - The Warships appear sooner and the game pace is now faster. - PT Boats spawn more frequently, especially during Extended Time. - When a torpedo hits a ship, the ship changes to a cycling orange-yellow "flame" color, as a stylized representation of being on fire. - A 9th Target has been added, the "Night Ghost". Hit him for a mystery score that varies with each successful hit. - Mine spawning changes are no longer linked to player's score, they are now based on their own timer. - Mine spawn patterns have been altered to be less of an interference to player's torpedo shots. - A new game can now be started 5 seconds after the previous game ends, instead of the long wait for the music to stop playing. - Options Menu now includes separate settings for turning Demo Music and Game Music on and off independently of each other. - Initial Game Time has been reduced from 250 to 200 seconds. - New App Icon - Other minor changes and fixes.
  12. What year was this game released? I'm guessing it was late 60s or early 70s. It looks interesting..
  13. I haven't seen a Seawolf cabinet, in person, in over 30 years now.. That's neat that you have one! One of the reasons I chose to make a game like Seawolf is that I do not like the aiming controls when playing the original game in MAME. You hit the arrow keys to move the cross hair left and right and it zips back and forth across the screen, making precision aiming difficult. The game, was of course, not designed to be controlled by a keyboard. Night Raider uses the touch screen to both aim and fire a torpedo simultaneously, from a single touch on the screen. Aiming is much more precise, and the cross hair is eliminated as it is no longer needed. A cross hair sliding left to right would have looked wrong within the fixed scope view anyway.
  14. Night Raider is a new iPad game which is currently available on the App Store. Night Raider is a retro submarine game, influenced by the old Seawolf coin-op arcade game (the original 1976 game, not the ticket redemption remake). I have fond memories of playing that game as a child back in the late 70s. Seawolf as you all should know, was a relatively simple game. Night Raider has embellished the concept somewhat to make it a bit more attractive and interesting to play. Yet retaining some of the charming traits of the old 70's game. This is a very retro, coin-op style game, so I thought some of the users of this forum might be interested in hearing about it. www.celtroniclabs.com/NRgame.html
  15. Star Castle, Armor Attack and Rip Off! I've always been fascinated by the Cinematronics TTL-based main board and how they continued making games on this NON-microprocessor based hardware until 1982. Cinematronics and Atari were the top two Vector game producers back in the day. Emulators just don't do any of these vector games justice. IMHO, Star Castle, in particular, really sucks on MAME. Animation of the player's ship is extremely jerky as it moves across the screen, single points are so tiny and dim you can hardly see them, the star field is practically invisible and DOES NOT TWINKLE!!, no ring regeneration sound effect, blue color of overlay is wrong (should be more cyan and lighter), overlay itself does not look correct.. I think I need to write a dedicated Star Castle emulator lol.
×
×
  • Create New...