bjbest60

Those are both things I've been tweaking a lot. I definitely agree on the sound--I find it a bit annoying, honestly, but it's the closest I could come to approximating the TI version. Decreasing the volume should help. And I can definitely decrease the change in speed. I often find myself just waiting for the ship to move far enough right before I can begin blasting it, so it could move a little faster there, and then the change can just be a bit less. Thanks for the feedback! I'll tweak those items some more.

Thanks for playing and for the comments! I like the idea of making the alternate characters the main ones, and vice-versa. To get to Electric mode, you need to press Select from the title screen. You can switch between modes from there (the screen will say which mode you're on). Only the left difficulty matters; the right doesn't do anything. Given the discussion of challenge, maybe the game should start in Electric mode. More enemies would be cool, but the game would require a new kernel and would wind up with a fair amount of flickering, unfortunately. I'll start tinkering. Thanks again!

So, whilst I was in the process of making Tombstones, the ROM wound up being slightly larger than 8k after adding everything to make the game feel polished. I used about 9k of a 16k ROM. I figured I couldn't let all that extra space go to waste. I grew up with a TI-99/4a, and one of my favorite games was TI Invaders. My favorite part of that game was the bonus round where you shot a spaceship back and forth that got increasingly smaller and further away. So here, in that grand tradition, I am happy to present you this Tombstones B-side which is stupidly named Disc Donk (after the sound made when the ship gets hit). Disc Donk attempts to replicate as much of the TI Invaders bonus game as possible while tacking on enough extras to make it a full game. Features: Facsimiles of the TI colors, sound effects, graphics, and gameplay Same increasing point values as the TI version Dramatic explosion animation and sound after the 15th hit of the saucer Three stages per level; in each stage the saucer moves faster Five separate levels, increasingly blockaded Motivational messages between levels and an extra ship, too (idea and sound effect stolen vaguely from Munch Man) Hypnotic title screen and game over graphics A cornucopia of curses as you miss a three-pixel wide saucer at the top of the screen I think my favorite part of the original bonus round was that it was more rhythmic than deliberate aiming. If you got the timing down, you could get pretty far without worrying where the ship was--just press fire at the right time. I'm pretty pleased that I feel that rhythm has been maintained here. When I'm feeling it, I can get to level 4 somewhat consistently. When I'm not, I can't get past the third stage of the first level. Anyway, this will be released alongside Tombstones on a cart as a twofer type of thing. (In fact, the reason this ROM is 16k is because Tombstones is also in it.) But I wanted to release this separately for people to try out and offer comments / suggestions / bug reports. Good luck with it! Disc Donk Beta 1.bin

Hello again all, A second beta is attached to the original post with a fair number of new features. Probably the biggest change in terms of game play is that there are now two modes: Normal and Electric. If you go right into a game, it starts in Normal, which is how the game played before. But in Electric, everything in the playfield--the tombstones as well as border that encloses the battlefield--is electrified. If you touch a tombstone or the edge of the field, you will die. (The original story can be modified to include further oddities about the way the Yellowcoats build their graves: they don't want anyone else touching them, and have the technology to punish those that do.) To switch to Electric mode, just press Select from the title screen. You can then switch between the two modes before playing using Select as you like. So, there are a total of four levels of difficulty, and they're indicated by the score color: Novice (B) / Normal: light gray Expert (A) / Normal: dark gray Novice (B) / Electric: light brown Expert (A) / Electric: Brigade blue In this new version, you can, in fact, end the war if you succeed in enough battles. Even on the easiest settings, it isn't easy. The main cosmetic change is the "title cards" that announce the number of the battle you're fighting after you win the previous one. If your Color/BW switch is set to BW when you start a game, you can fight with an alternate set of characters presumably drawn from some alternate reality. As before, I look forward to your feedback! I feel like this is getting pretty close to being done, so I'd appreciate any bug reports, too. Thanks!

All five carts have been sold! Thanks for the interest. As I said before, an unlimited run is planned at 8 Bit Classics, so I'll bump this thread when they're available online.

I'm thrilled to announce High Score Screen Burn Slow Burn is now available on a physical cart! Details are here.

Hello all, I'm happy to announce I've created five physical carts for sale of High Score Screen Burn Slow Burn, an experimental 4k game that you play by not playing it! You can learn about the game and its development in this thread. The carts are individually numbered / burned on the back. For $30, you will get a cart, a typewritten and slightly charred instruction card (lovingly encased in a sandwich bag for mailing), and shipping. The game is NTSC only. After this limited-edition run sells out, an unlimited run of carts with a new label is planned for sale at 8-Bit Classics. Photos below. Please message me if you have questions or would like to buy a cart! Cheers, B.J.

Thanks for playing and for your comments! That's a very interesting idea. Right now, the only way to move on in the game is to defeat X number of enemies per level. But avoiding them altogether is an interesting strategy. I'm worried that lethalizing (for lack of a better word) the tombstones will make the later levels much more difficult--particularly trying to slide through gaps that are one playfield pixel wide. But that could be part of the point, too. This might work well in terms of the design of some of the original Atari games--that is, game #1 could have normal tombstones, but if you press the select switch, game #2 has lethal ones. Maybe there could be another timer on the left side that signals Yellow's imminent retreat--the longer you play a level, the closer you get to the retreat. If you manage to get Yellow to retreat rather than killing them all, you could get a sizable score bonus. That would reward stringing Yellow along without actually killing them. Thanks again! I'll play around with these ideas.