r_type2600
-
Content Count
271 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Posts posted by r_type2600
-
-
I have several points from your suggestions more or less 1:1 on my Todo list, especially regarding the difficulty switches and the title screen alternating with the game screen.Cool - looking forward to it!
Repairing something at the bonus screen is also a good idea.Sounds promising!
Main (design) challenge here, I guess, would be to find the best balance of boni. Maybe only award a bonus every second screen?
I'm not sure regarding all the suggested color changes, I'll have to see wether something like this can be done
Would really hope to see this implemented in some way. I have a feeling especially the "atmosphere" changes could add quite some lasting power to the game...(aside addressing the cited issues)
Regarding the ground colour changes, a more decent approach could be to just change the bottom line colour with every new wave. That way the characteristic ochre ground tone would be kept throughout the whole game; yet every wave would now gain a distinct colour code, allowing to identify it a glance...
It's actually a bit better already. The multiplier is not '5', but 'S' - for Squadron
Uh, my blunder
Though you must admit the s can be easily taken for a 5
Maybe you could make it a bit rounder ...?
Other than that, the presentation is set to become as perfect as it can get
-
Great to see this progressing along, love the cool new features
- the added bonus audio & visuals are perfect - much better than hopped for! With this, there's also no need anymore for a vicory jingle, the counting audio delivers perfect accoustic gratification
- good decision to colour the alien counter blue. As it shares the same color as the cursor, it nicely integrates into the defense "system".
* * * * *
Exhaustive list of suggestions: (I hope I'll be forgiven
)- I would still prefer the enemy counter not to reset after loss of a life. It remains a bit frustrating to have to restart a wave from the beginning. Enemy counter reset yes/no might make for a good difficulty switch option though! (default should be no reset
)- talking about difficulty switches: I am personally not so keen on having the cursor wrap (would further ease the game), but can understand other might like it. What about including it as the second difficulty switch selectable option (default = non-wrap)?
- level counting, etc.: here's an approach which could hit several flies with one swap:
Colour-code the levels. Recolour the ground (every new wave) and then the "atmosphere" above the shields (every 9th wave - the counter should thus only go to 8.)
Positive effects:
a) level indicator. Players could deduct the level they're on just by looking at the combined color of the ground + atmosphere. For instance, yellow + black = level 1, yellow + dark blue = level 9 (1blue)
b) no need to display the last level reached at the game over screen! Players can now simply deduct it.
c) additional difficulty factor in later waves: the different coloured background (dark blue, dark green, grey, etc. ) will reduce visibility of enemies, thus increasing the challenge.
d) added motivation for the player to continue gaming in order to discover the new color combinations.
- repairs (still think this is needed, as the player currently is still doomed to loose no matter how good he plays.)
Maybe an alternative approach would be to award the player with some repair at each bonus screen? That should hopefully be simpler to implement than the advisor...
After every round rebuild, at random, either a quarter of the shields or one of the buildings (incl. the smartbomb silos). Every fourth round would then rebuild one cannon. If both cannons are still operating, revert to standard bonus rebuild scheme.
Well, something like that, that could be fine-tuned for optimal difficulty-balance...
- presentation
Would be great if you could display the game screen (with colours of last achieved stage) after one full loop of the title tune. Two effects: breaks the static of the title screen (perfect for display on a show floor), and displays game stats of last game.
One final observation: the enemy score display shows the multiplier set a the max of 5. Would it be possible to have it loop from 1 to 5? Would be nice...(no big issue though)
* * * * *
Love the teaser
Looks like a perfect fit for another must-have in the 2600 library
Cheers, Eric
-
Great how this game has developed! I was a bit sceptical at first about the control concept, but once you get used to it, it becomes quite natural
Would keep the game simple as it is now, it's great fun like that and a nice takeback to the gameplay style of earlier VCS charmers (Sky Diver, Boxing, Frog Pond, Maze Craze,Polo, etc.).
It would be great though if you could incorporate an array of game options!
A 70's style game option matrix would be a perfect fit for this game
Two suggestions of my own:
- it would be very nice if the winning bee could perform some kind of short "victory dance". Does not have to be anything sophisticated - he could just turn around himself or move in circle. Just something to visually award the winner.
- title screen: as nice as it is, maybe you could try some other color combinations?
The background color seems off in my feeling: the usual black(=space/abstraction) doesn't really fit this light-hearted, nature-themed game. Maybe you could experiment with a blue(=sky), yellow(=honey) or green(=field) background, for example?
Keep up the great work!
-
Are these results official? It's hard to comment about them without knowing for sure.Anyway, we have also released Yoomp!. You can download it from http://yoomp.atari.pl
Wow, congratulations, this is such a great game and all-around accomplished product
And an excellent promotion site!
Would love to see it released as a boxed 5200 game!
This game oozes quality and would really fit smoothly into the 5200 library.
I could imagine it achieving similar success as Adventure II ...
Would be great to see it appear in the AtariAge store!
Cheers, Eric
-
I don't understand this.Siding with Nathan here: - continuing from the same level will ruin most of the fun of the game.It doesn't represent a challenge at all to try the same level over and over again until you eventually luck out and make it to the next level.
Now you have to replay the previous level over and over again.
... not exactly: lose on that one, and you'll be set back one more level. And so on.. No easy way out here: if you wanna progress, you've got to be focused and sweat for it!
If Rocky gets knocked down by Mr. T, I don't think he wants to fight with Apollo Creed first again.
The point is that Rocky's gonna fight, not bribe the referee... 
-
Siding with Nathan here: - continuing from the same level will ruin most of the fun of the game.
It doesn't represent a challenge at all to try the same level over and over again until you eventually luck out and make it to the next level.
No focus, no risk, no thrill, no excitement, no fun.
It's like watching a DVD on fast forward in five minutes. You'll see all scenes, perhaps catch the storyline, but completely miss the drama and emotions.
Then you'll put in a drawer never to be looked at again.
The essence of classic gaming is to master the game, not to play through it.
Granted you will be required to sharpen your concentration, keep focused, sweat, then eventually curse and throw the joystick against the wall.
And then you'll come back to the game in the evening. Or the next day. Or in a week. To give it just one more try. And once you finish it, you will try for a better score.
That's excitement. That's fun!
-
still valid?Sure.
Care starting a "Robot City 8/16K" thread in the homebrews forum?
Just a few ideas so far, but those threads tend to gain their own momentum ...
Cheers, Eric
-
Another excellent update, Simone!
You didn't mention it, but I think you also reworked the colours a bit, didn't you?
Anyway, the game somehow feels richer and deeper now...great!
Could of course also be that I'm just completely hypnotized all the way again
- glad to see the expanded '+500 / perfect!' message make it!
A small observation: wouldn't it be more intuitive to revert it, e.g.: ' perfect ! / (empty line) /+500 '
Cool you decided to reduce the smartbombs - I believe this now really gives the player more freedom in how to approach and play the game: no need for a perfect run anymore in order to experience all gameplay elements! The smartbombs definetely get much more use now
- on the heels of the above, it might be a good idea to change the score unit value to 3 in order to break up the current rigidy of even scores. Not sure, but I think it would further add to the 'freefloating' spirit of the game...
-
Thanks for the superb new update Simone!
I'd say it's 99% perfect now
After playtesting it for one week I really could not find any reasonable wishes left open
(just a minor issue indicated further down)
One tends to forget that this game is only 8K and it's amazing how much gameplay and atmosphere you managed to cram into that space!
I was at first also a tad sceptical regarding the revised "catch" level rules, but was quickly converted - the no-miss condition definetely adds a lot of punch to the gameplay, keeping the player on his toes, therebey (finally) fully integrating the catch level into the overall flow and feel of the game.
An excellent design decision
The only request I would have is that you could hopefully manage to free a few bytes to polish one rough corner I noticed in the catch level:
- catching all items does greet you with an adequate message, but there's no signal whatsoever what effect it has. What I mean is that your score does increase, but more or less invisibly, as there is no visual or accustic signal informing the player about this.
There is no need for anything fancy, but a simple effect like an extra text line: "+500" and/or a flash of the score and/or a short jingle would be desirable...
One more comment...
Lead's gameplay is so immersive and captivating, that one tends to overlook the great "jazz synthesizer" provided in the options screen. Only starting to appreciate it now: it's really great fun fiddling with the different combinations.
-
Great new build Simone, thanks again for listening to all suggestions!
Just a few small refinement requests and a couple of ideas to enrich the game experience:
Presentation
almost perfect now, just a couple of timing issues:
- attract screen (e.g. last played stage): this is still a bit too short and is often over before once brain has adapted to it. I understand that it lasts until the first alien hits the bottom. I like this element, but it tends to extremly shorten the attract screen at times, IMO.
Suggestion: after the first alien has hit the bottom, there will be no more entering the screen from top, and the attract screen will end once the last alien has hit the bottom.
The alternate (second-choice) remedy would be to set a fixed longer time period for the attract screen.
- game over/ continue screen: optimal solution for the continue option. Only small problem is that it reverts back to the title screen with the end of the game over sequence, which leaves very little time to decide on continuing or not ( especially after a frantic game where one first needs a few seconds to digest the experience).
Suggestion: delay the return to the title screen by a few seconds after the end of the game over sequence.
Suggestion2: flash the continue message rythmitically so the player has a clue when it will end by observing the number of flashes.
Catch level
- catch effect: thanks Simone for considering and explaining the collision routine problem. Fair enough! Clearly we're expecting magic from you, but not the impossible!
Suggestion: Building on your flash effect (which in light of the limitations does now indeed appear as the smartest approach), maybe you could enhance it by either a) introducing a "desintegration" animation for the aliens (after the flash) or b) cycle the flash through several increasingly brighter shades of white.
Not sure whether it is technically possible and how effective it would be in practice, but it might be worth a try...
- catch indicator: just to support Nathan's suggestion. While it's possible to indirectly keep track of the misses (by counting the miss sounds or checking the score), the indicator would add further arcade polish to Lead.
An alternative idea to the percentage counter would be a message like "3 Misses from Perfection".
Just an idea, no preferences here...
- bonus intermissions: ok, here's an idea which should not be too difficult to implement but would further enrich the game experience and thicken the game "story"
:In case of a perfect catch, two of the earlier shot aliens (e.g. from stage 1 for catch level 5, from stage 6 for catch level 10, etc.) would enter the screen on top, holding below them a "score capsule" indicating the bonus amount (think of the Lead1K capsule from the options screen, filled in, with the score amount displayed in black).
They would travel until above the status text display (e.g. "Stage cleared/Congratulations/Perfect"), leave the score capsule, and then shoot of to the top (same effect as the player's ship after finishing a stage).
Thereafter the normal stage clear intermission would set in.
- increasing bonus amounts. Not much to elaborate here - would be a nice motivation if the bonus score would increase with each catch level (for instance: 250 - 500 - 750 - 1000)
Graphics
- I'm sorry to bring this up again, Simone, but...
Would it be possible to design different icons for the ship upgrade and score bonus? It just feels a bit unpolished to have the same smart bomb symbol for all effects...
...would be
!Cheers, Eric
-
Dropping the "us" would add more suspense and even some mystique to it, I find, since the purpose of the "mission" and the ending would not be so obvious. More original than the tried "rescue mission" theme as well...Awww... don't spoil the ending. I haven't seen it yet.
Uh - actually I didn't see it either, just speculating ... no worry thus, nothing spoiled...
-
Love the dramatic text build-up - a small request though: would you mind dropping the "us" at the end? It somehow feels a bit too whimsical (poor little aliens begging for help) and does not fit well with the cool hardcore gaming atmosphere of the rest of the game, IMO.I like the "us" part. Seems to fit the game perfectly, to me.
Allow me to elaborate a bit...forgive the slender
Dropping the "us" would add more suspense and even some mystique to it, I find, since the purpose of the "mission" and the ending would not be so obvious. More original than the tried "rescue mission" theme as well...
Also, since the player has to first fight the aliens before finally "converting" and leading them, it feels odd and unlogical that they should themselves call for his leadership right away..
In the end, it's kinda "Film Noir" vs. "Hollywood Blockbuster" or "Quentin Tarantino" vs. "Steven Spielberg" choice to be made here
Purely a matter of taste - I will accept the leader's decision in this quintessential question of Shakespearan dimensions
One other suggestion: When you get a ship upgrade, and lose all your smart bombs, it would be nice if you could choose to downgrade your ship in exchange for the effect of one more smart bomb. So if you had a green ship, but no smart bombs, you could still activate the smart bomb, but then your ship would turn red (with no smart bombs). Then, you could either collect more smart bombs, or downgrade again by activating the smart bomb. I've run into more than a few instances where I'd upgraded, and wish I still had a smart bomb to use, instead of the upgrade.Good observation, and an excellent solution proposal - would feel perfectly natural and should not be too difficult to implement!
-
Hi John,
Sure a pity that the 2600 will have to wait some before being graced with more of your masterpieces, but we all now that real life takes priority!
Whatever the reason for your break may be, one thing's for certain - Lady Luck is always waiting behind some corners, it just takes her some time to turn the right doors..
All the best,
Eric
-
Cool new version, this is really close to perfect now, with gameplay that feels and runs smoothly from intro to game over screen
I would only have one gameplay comment and a few small finetuning requests this time
Catch level:
- While it plays very well, for some reason it does still not feel as smooth as the other stages.
I concentrated a bit on this, and think the answer why it does not feel so intuitive is simple and logical - the player ship does never actually touch the aliens! That is not very coherent with the sensation of catching...
I believe it would much improve the feeling of this level if the collision routine would actually allow the ship and aliens to touch...
- also, it could be more intuitive to flash the player ship instead of the aliens at the catch. That should further integrate the player in the flow of the game.
- final suggestion here: the new miss sound works great, but is a bit feeble, IMO. One tends to overhear it easily. Maybe you could increase its volume somewhat?
Polish suggestions:
- great presentation screens now. Only suggestions I would have is to slightly reduce the moving logo speed on one hand, and stretch the intervalls between title/demo screens (e.g. 10 seconds each for instance) on the other.
Since the game itself is rather frantic and high-adrenaline, a calmer presentation would contrast better and provide a more elegant wrapping, IMO.
The Lead1K border is perfect btw!
- intro sequence. Superb idea, Simone! Just like the Game Over screen, simple yet very effective!
Love the dramatic text build-up - a small request though: would you mind dropping the "us" at the end? It somehow feels a bit too whimsical (poor little aliens begging for help) and does not fit well with the cool hardcore gaming atmosphere of the rest of the game, IMO.
I particularly like the blue flashing screen introduction of the player's ship.
Just a simple suggestion here: It would be cool if you could turn the ship black instead of white, giving the impression that the ship is coming out of the shadows to answer the call, adding further drama to the introduction...
- bonus catch items. Brilliant solution and great new features! Love the "fat" shots
Only weakness I could find here is that the same smartbomb sprite is used for all bonus items.
Hopefully you could design a couple more sprites for these (one for the upgrades - in different colors o correspond with the particular upgrade; another one for the bonus score item).
Yet need to make it to the end, and hope to at least once get a perfect score in the catch stage; but this game is tremendous fun and immensely addicting all around
Great work, Simone!
Eric
-
A very charming and original game concept - like it!
Hmm, I think the gameplay would gain a lot if you could control the bee's lance by pushing the button: holding the button would lower it, releasing it would let the lance flip back -> depending on the angle at which the ball would be hit, it would gain a new direction/ speed. That way players could influence the horizontal motion of the ball, introducing challenge and excitement to the game
I like the added background, but maybe you could rework the colors as the background and bees tend to blend quite much right now..
Again - a very promising two player game in the vein of Frog Pond
-
I would like to see the game continue after the "victory dance"A "Cold" ending feels good for say Adventure or the Super Mario Brothers type of games but it wouldn't feel right for a fast paced shooter like Lead. That's another reason I would like to see extra ship bonuses.
Scoring isn't a motivation for me in this game, survival is. The scores for completing a stage are arbitrary and the same for everybody--500 points.
Lead isn't a game that rewards greed like say Galaga. Two different people could play galaga for 10 stages and one person could have double the score of the other.
I would measure skill in LEAD by how many stages you complete!
So let the game continue and become even more difficult
Once you start the 21 stages over again, perhaps this time some elements are combined to make it harder. Perhaps an occasional asteroid falls while on a "fire" stage which could effectively trap you to one side momentarily.
If by some miracle you surive that round of 21 stages then maybe the whole thing reverses polarity. Maybe your ship is on the top of the screen while things fly up at you. I don't know why, but that always messes with my head. Like playing Rescue Terra I.
cheers----Ron
Well, I certainly would have no objection against a second or third, even fourth loop, after the end sequence of a 21-stage round
...some other difficulty element (like your "occasional asteroid" idea) for later loops could be a higher density of aliens, for instance.
I would however guess that this may require quite some level finetuning and extra work. Not to mention any technical obstacles.
As for the current rigid scoring scheme; that's certainly a valid point.
And precisely one good reason to introduce random/tactical scoring opportunities
Survival vs. Scoring motivation
I don't see one excluding the other, and a good chance to incorporate both in Lead
-
It might be more strategic and challenging if the power ups on these 2 stages gave you a 3 to 4 second shield instead of a "smart bomb".I think shields in the "Dodge!" and "Scramble" stages would make them too easy, but Ron's idea would make perfect sense in the final "Escape!" (prefer that name to keep consistent with the rest of the game) stage-
Each hit of the walls (with flash effect?) would deplete one of the stock smart bombs, only once all are gone the next hit would end the game. It would really be too harsh to end the game with one single hit after such a long journey...
To ensure that the player will still be encouraged to hit the walls as little as possible, any remaining smart bombs would then be added to his final score (say value of 100 for each bomb) at the end of the game. (after the congratulatory message and before the end sequence).
As with the catch item bonus and perfect! bonus, this would add another element of score flexibility, ensuring that even after beating the game, players will be motivated to play it again to try to achieve an even better score
-
Thanks Simone for the level select, allows to playtest all the levels - glad to report that I also found all of them beatable
Would still prefer a continue a la Tempest in the cart version, frankly, as this level select makes it too easy to see all the game and spoils the fun of discovering new aliens in later stages and the feeling of accomplishment in doing so...
I also noticed the score-limit issue (probably due to have to limit it to 4 digits, I guess?), but that could easily be addressed by reducing the scoring for enemies, e.g. bring it down to 3 or 2 points per enemy.
That would also facilitate including the random score bonus catch items and "Perfect!" catch stage bonus
Did not manage to play through the end, but agree that a game so accomplished like this, needs a worthy ending -
Nathan's final "Escape!" stage is a great idea, would fit smoothly into the game experience.
As for the ending sequence, here's my suggestion:
- after escape level, ship centers at the bottom
- message apeears: Congratulations! Mission Complete (or something like that). message disappears.
- new message: Lead!
- ships slowly flies off. After some time (a third or halfway through the screen), the various aliens he beat before start scrolling in from the bottom in formation (not all of them to keep it to a reasonable length, 10 or 20 or so of each species): they are following their newly found leader
Some fitting music would enhance the effect.
- this goes on until the last aliens have exited from the top of the screen.
- Return to title screen.
Two more presentation suggestions:
- on the title screen, could you have the Lead logo slowly hover up and down? That should be easy to implement, and would add some motion and further character to the title screen.
- this is taken from Lady Bug: could you color-code the score according to the selected speed? Would be justified to distinguish it IMO, as the different speed levels do alter the gameplay...
Thanks again Simone, for listening to all our suggestions - I think the game is now really approaching completion, you should not be bothered for too long any more by those enthusiastic homebrew commentators
-
Awesome new update
Thanks Simone!- continue feature: I would welcome one in the cart version (no emulation cheating possible). The difficulty itself is very well balanced, IMO, but it tends to get a bit tedious to have to restart from the beginning all the time. Clearly, the Tempest approach should be taken though, for the good reasons Nathan spelled out.
- scramble level: cool! Admit that I at first thought it was just a dodge! variation, but it quickly became obvious that it has its very own gameplay style - more like sliding between the enemies
Don't think it needs to be changed as it's been greatly implemented and the collision detection is very fair. Plays very smoothly once you got adapted you mindset to "sliding"...
The only shortcoming is the missing exclamation mark in the stage title :!:
Some comments/ refinement suggestions:
- game intro: I love the stage transitions - find they work like butter now, and keep the flow of the game very smooth.
As a start-game intro the effect is a bit weak though. My suggestion for this is a take on the classic (and tired) mothership dropoff intro. Let's call it "motherbubble"
The sequence would be like this:
1) a bubble, slightly bigger than the spaceship enters the screen from bottom and flies to the middle at normal speed. Stops.
2) a text appears on the top half of the screen: "This is living!" - setting the tone for the "funk meets existentialism" mood of Lead, as to be experienced with stages like Fire!, Dodge!, Catch!
(and a nice spoof on that funky PS3 ad campaign)
3) bubble bursts, ship appears in its place. (-a ship is born!)
4) ships drops to the bottom at normal speed. Game starts! (-ship sets off to discover the universe he was born into)
- catch stage: looks beautiful and plays like a charm. Could you add some (red) flash effect when the player misses an enemy? Either full screen, or probably better, in a strip below the player ship. Would add some drama and keep the player excited...
Also - I never managed to catch them all, so I could not verify it: is there any "perfect score" bonus? Just think it would add some extra motivation and kick to this stage...
- catch bonus items: perfect implementation of this great idea! Integrates smoothly and really adds to the gameplay!
Only wonder what happens when the player already has accumulated a full arsenal of five smartbombs? I managed this once to watch what would come next, but was a bit deceived to see yet another smartbomb icon. Caught it, but am not sure what effect it had. The number of bombs in reserve remained the same, and I could not notice any score effect.
Would be nice if you could introduce a new bonus icon in this situation, that would increase the player's score: say by 20, 50 or 100 points - maybe a random effect, like the UFO in Space Invaders.
In that case the bonus "friends" should be distinguishable by color or shape...
- attract mode: missing right now, but would add to the first class arcade quality of Lead.
Hopefully easy to implement, yet very efficient:
A continuous cyle between title screen and demos of the most characteristic stages. For instance:
Title - Shoot demo - Title - Dodge demo - ... repeat.. Title - shoot ...etc.
- option screen: beautiful now. Great to see the attention you're giving to improve and finetune even secondary aspects of the game!
One mini-suggestion: since Lead1K is less of a tuning option, more like a fullblown extra feature, maybe it could be decently distinguished by having it, for instance, "encapsuled" (like a hieroglyph).
Hope Simone it's obvious that all this suggestions (and I guess the others') are fed by the enthusiasm for the great game Lead is! Once again, hats up for this great creation!
Eric
-
Stage 3: Catch!The simple idea: a third gameplay style, where the ship has to catch the falling objects (stars for instance). This would basically be a bonus stage and consequently shorter (only 40 enemies or so): the player will not lose by missing an object, but he will try to catch as many as possible in order to increase his score. Getting all of them will get him a special bonus on top.
Or...
How about adding a bonus item to catch (randomly) in some of the other stages? You'd get used to shooting (or dodging) but would have to keep an eye out for that elusive item that you should neither shoot nor dodge.
Cool idea - how about both?
On one hand the bonus stages - broadening the game experience as a whole, with the introduction and focus on a different action style.
It would probably work better to have them only every fifth stage though, in order to keep a better balance between stress (4 stages) and reward (1 stage).
Plus the single bonus item to catch towards the end (last twenty or so enemies) of each stage.
Starting with the smartbombs - would only be logical for the player to have to do something to earn them, after all
In case the player has filled his arsenal with five smartbombs, the end level object could turn into a highscoring bonus item. The cool thing about this would be the tactical edge it would add to the gameplay: 
will the gamer play it safe, and use his smartbombs, or get greedy and keep them, hopping to maximize his score with highscoring bonus items?Cult classics like Lady Bug (score multiplier, extra letters) have shown us how much such apparently marginal features can add to the game experience
-
Keeps getting greater with each new version
So many great improvements to observe!
- gameplay is perfectly balanced now: still challenging, but never feels unfair
- music works like a charm now, and the option to tune it to your liking leaves no wishes open
- big bravo for the improvement of the smartbomb feature! It always felt a bit out of place in the 1K version, and it's obvious why now: the punishment for using it was a major demotivator. It was an excellent design decision to drop the "score-setback" sanction! The smartbomb has now become a real option, fully integrated into gameplay. Its accustic and optic effect are also perfect now!
- great game over screen! Minimalistic, but absolutely effective. Clever use of sound as well!
- love the end of stage ship blastoff! Cool effect that's perfectly fitting with the mood of the game: a continuous flow - always moving forward.
One observation and request here though: the start game/level animation feels rather awkward and out of place, IMO. The ship which proudly blasted off after clearing a stage, now helplessly plumets down to the bottom of the screen like a sack of potatoes? Does not make much sense in my eyes and feels anticlimatic...
Suggestion: after blasting off the top of the screen, the ship reenters from the bottom at full speed and comes to a controled halt at about mid-screeen, thereafter hovering down again to the bottom. That would reinforce the illusion of the ship flying through an alien universe moving from one dangerous zone to the next, autonomously (and heroicly) choosing to take up the next challenge.
Yeah, it's all about psychology
:!: Ok, here comes one BIG suggestion:
Stage 3: Catch!
The simple idea: a third gameplay style, where the ship has to catch the falling objects (stars for instance). This would basically be a bonus stage and consequently shorter (only 40 enemies or so): the player will not lose by missing an object, but he will try to catch as many as possible in order to increase his score. Getting all of them will get him a special bonus on top. Yes, clear shades of Galaga here!
I think the extra effort to implement this would more than pay off in added gamefun...in a way introducing a third dimension to Lead...
...would be great if you could consider this...
Eric
-
Hi Simone - great to see Lead return in an extended version
Wow - the dodge levels and ondulating tunnels are just way cool and superb additions to the already great basic game. Bellissimo!
Also like the neat little new features that one discovers only at the second look. Like the animated ship, or the clever after-game level indicator (the last alien carried over to the title screen)
Lead now really has all the elements and depth to become a future classic in the 2600 library
What it may still need is some finetuning and polish here and there -
I take the liberty to add a few comments/ suggestions from my side:
- I join the others' remarks about the very high difficulty level. (Personal hiscore 310 btw ). I feel that the tunnels are a tad too wide in the shoot levels, regularly causing near impossible enemy constellations. Feels a bit unfair... Why not narrow them a bit, say bring them close to the middle score-digit? That would make the game much fairer IMO... Hmmm, thinking about it, the wider tunnels could then be introduced in a second loop (after winning the game), giving it another arcade quality feature (and opportunity to further push the high score).
- talking about the borders - I miss the thicker, continuous ones from the 1K version! They contributed a lot to the fluidity and hypnotic atmosphere of Lead IMO, and I really would love to see them return ... unless there's a technical reason for dropping them?
- likewise, as Nathan observed, the original 1K tune was already a perfect fit and should be kept. The new one is quite good (it could stay as the title tune for example), but it just lacks the catchiness and doesn't harmonize so good with the gameplay as the 1K one did.
- also, I find that the game could gain additional character and charme from smoother transitions between the various parts - the game starts and ends pretty abruptly right now, for instance. A couple of ideas: instead of puting the ship right into action after the title screen, let him fly through space (black screen) for a couple of seconds with the tunnel gradually scrolling in from above. Once the tunnel borders have hit the bottom, the game would actually start with the appearance of enemies and the player taking control of the ship. Similarly, some graphical effect when losing the game would round up the experience nicely. A very simple idea for instance: turn the background (blood-) red with a black game over message. Return to the title screen after 10 seconds or so...
Cheers, Eric
- I join the others' remarks about the very high difficulty level. (Personal hiscore 310 btw
-
Nathan Strum and Robert Gomez have delivered some really nice labels, but my personal favorite got to be David Vazquez' - underwriting Nathan's comments here; plus I like how the label captures the gameplay.
My special favorite is Patricio Cuello's - cool take on Edward Munch!
Would make for a superb title screen
-
There is a minor difference between PAL and NTSC boxes, the little Quality Control sticker. Also, AFAIK, only the Australian BOMB games came with the iron on patches, but I'm not completely sure about that.Cheers,
Marco
And I still don't buy the Australia thing either, I got a NTSC CIB Bomb Z-Tack from Canada, with the Iron-On.
I can second that: I found a NOS one in Austria (Europe) with the iron-on.
Still had the old Austrian currency price sticker on the box.
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
AtariAge on Instagram
Watch us on YouTube
Chat on Discord
Colony 7 - Release Candidate!
in Homebrew Discussion
Posted
- Yes
- like the additional ear candy as well
(I wouldn't mind to have the last note left in there though, makes the game over jingle feel more rounder IMHO - just a personal preference)
- "Press Fire" ->
Certainly a worthy alternate to the extra presentation screen, if that can't make it. As simple as it it, the flashing text provides for enough visual stimulation to counter visual tiring.
Only one small request here - instead of a continuous loop of the title tune, it would be nice if you could wait (silence) for a set time after a full sequence, before starting it again then. A continuous loop has a certain supermarket background music risk - "framing" the tune by moments of silence should considerably reduce that risk and allow to much better appreciate it...
A pleasure to follow this game improving step by step!