potatohead's Blog

I think polishing and finetuning is always a very good idea. This often makes the difference between a good and an outstanding game.

 

BTW: I had problems with level 4 of the compo submission. IMO it seems almost unbeatable.

BTW: Did you really vote that low for your own game, #22?

I think polishing and finetuning is always a very good idea. This often makes the difference between a good and an outstanding game.

 

BTW: I had problems with level 4 of the compo submission. IMO it seems almost unbeatable.

 

Exactly right. That's a problem that happens when you are author and major playtester... Learning a lot here --don't know exactly what it's gonna be good for, but it feeds the soul well enough.

 

The secret to level 4, as it currently exists is to make damn sure there is almost no ooze when it starts. Then it's pure survival at that point. Best way through is to prioritize your shots on one side of the screen, keeping all the ooze at bay as long as is possible. Once the ooze hits the bottom it will creep. Ideally you have managed to last until the end of the level with enough playspace remaining so that you can choose where to sacrifice your ship. Waste one ship to knock the ooze back off of the bottom and then take advantage of the next level to clear it back to a managable state.

 

I really had a tough time figuring out where the right toughness level was. Earlier versions of the game were easier and likely closer to the right progression. I've some good ideas to make things easier and more obvious through gameplay without having to include a strategy guide kind of thing. The primary one is to make the levels cyclic. Easy, harder, harder still, then repeat with level 10 being a boss level that's really tough.

 

That way the regular pattern will let the player reach milestones and understand the overall flow far better than they do now. The Bb environment does not allow for much graphically just yet, but there are no real gameplay limits that I can see, so that's the focus. Well, there is one issue --the paddle. Before I really call this done, I want to see if the paddle can be read somehow, ideally allowing for both play options.

 

Ooze with the paddle could get just totally nuts in terms of speed and what the player experiences. Twitch games like this are my favorites. The game can be solid as it is, but that option is worth some work at the assembly level when I have time --simply because I want to play it!

 

Thanks for letting me know I'm on the right track.

BTW: Did you really vote that low for your own game, #22?

 

Thought I put in a zero! Had I voted, I would have. After not touching it for about three weeks, I was completely disgusted with it. It's place in the compo came as a total surprise --thought it would be nearly last because of the playbalance issues.

Thought I put in a zero!

Then it would have been counted as no vote. Which IMO is the best way for your own games anyway. (maybe you wanted to vote for Pirate instead?)

 

Had I voted, I would have.  After not touching it for about three weeks, I was completely disgusted with it.  It's place in the compo came as a total surprise --thought it would be nearly last because of the playbalance issues.

The playbalance is not that bad and the first 3 levels where fun enough to give me an idea. IMO many other submission's (some looking really great) gameplay and balance was way less good (especially Protectoid, partially even 4K Race).

 

Actually, I never expected BASIC 2600 games to become that good.

The secret to level 4, as it currently exists is to make damn sure there is almost no ooze when it starts.  Then it's pure survival at that point.  Best way through is to prioritize your shots on one side of the screen, keeping all the ooze at bay as long as is possible.  Once the ooze hits the bottom it will creep.  Ideally you have managed to last until the end of the level with enough playspace remaining so that you can choose where to sacrifice your ship.  Waste one ship to knock the ooze back off of the bottom and then take advantage of the next level to clear it back to a managable state. 

Sounds interesting, just not that early. For a later level I suppose it is ok.

 

I really had a tough time figuring out where the right toughness level was.  Earlier versions of the game were easier and likely closer to the right progression.  I've some good ideas to make things easier and more obvious through gameplay without having to include a strategy guide kind of thing.

A good idea for the compo is to balance the difficulty towards casual gamers, which don't have too much time to test the games.

 

The primary one is to make the levels cyclic.  Easy, harder, harder still, then repeat with level 10 being a boss level that's really tough.

 

That way the regular pattern will let the player reach milestones and understand the overall flow far better than they do now.  The Bb environment does not allow for much graphically just yet, but there are no real gameplay limits that I can see, so that's the focus.

Sounds like a good plan to me.

 

Well, there is one issue --the paddle.  Before I really call this done, I want to see if the paddle can be read somehow, ideally allowing for both play options.

Should be possible. I don't know how the current BASIC kernel works, but paddle control only needs a very few extra cycles.

 

Ooze with the paddle could get just totally nuts in terms of speed and what the player experiences.  Twitch games like this are my favorites.  The game can be solid as it is, but that option is worth some work at the assembly level when I have time --simply because I want to play it!

Learning some assembler can't be wrong.