ScottHuggins

Despite being an ace programmer, I'm noticing you are an ace player as well. You always seem to score very well on games in general. Yep, Pixelboy turned me on to those glitches. I fixed them last night (it was an interrupt timing issue). Also redefined even more enemies (you have to get to the third and fourth levels to see them). But...I woke this morning and noticed my PC was down. I think the power supply or hard drive failed. It powers on for about 2 seconds and then turns itself off. I hope it's not the hard drive...as I ......umm... have no backup of the code. Stupid me.

New version has been added on the first post of this thread. * added Joe's suggestion of the low "thump" sound through out the gameplay. It gets much faster during the "mother ship" wave. For some reason, I'm not 100% sold on this. It seems almost annoying??? Perhaps there needs to be more of a delay between the "thumps"? * cross hairs are there now. Are they helpful? Should the y-position be higher up?

Interesting replies...thanks. Definitely opens up a lot of possibilities for freeing up rom space.

Thanks, Bob!!! That's the reason the .rom size is so darn big. I tried redefining the different enemy shapes for each level. I'm trying to optimize the assembly code even more so that I can *hopefully* have everything change EXCEPT the wave of ufo's at the beginning of each level. I figured the UFO's are kinda the central theme.... we'll see. I've got a question for you gurus: would you sacrifice game sounds and/or music to add extra visual features? At what point do you think you're compromising stuff by doing this?

VERY nice, Joe. Really captures it nicely. Very retro...very early looking space, shoot 'em up. Exactly what I hoped for. I can just picture it sitting in a box on the shelf of KAY BEE TOYS in 1983 catching some kids eye and comvincing him to buy it! I see the cross hairs on the graphic above...speaking of, I have the cross hairs thing working. It's a nice touch. Also, the low thumping bass line during game play is in...it also adds a nice, "frenetic" touch to the game play. Now, the final bug with the UFO (occasionally) staying in place needs to get fixed then I'll post another binary. Wow! That looks superb! Nice work! It would be nice to add a couple of cannons (with at least one firing a missile) and some ground explosions. Also, if you can, you should add a ground network that links the green towers together. They seem a bit lonely, all detached like that...

Jess, thanks! You workin' on anything?

Nice idea. I have some sounds (low bass rhythm...thumps like in SI). I might try that. It would be an easy addition. I will do it for the next binary...just to see how it may (or may not) enhance the gameplay.

Yea, let me tell you. That bug is about to make me start taking pills.

I wonder if it'd be worth it to give three options for the controls? You could select it when you start a new game. One option available for the way they are now, one for Joe's suggestion of left/right on joystick while pushing button #2, and one utilizing the Super Action Controllers (I love those, btw) and all three buttons the way he suggested (that would make it very quick to switch b/t the cannons). The cross hairs thing will go in tonight or tomorrow. Not a big thing to do.

Thanks, Joe! I thought the intv version of Atlantis was one of the best games for that system. I think intuitively, your suggestions for the controls sound great. I think I'll try it out and see how it feels...as well as post another binary. PS: Mess32 is a fine emulator for CV, but wow...I just discovered MEKA. It's AWESOME. Super easy install and the emulation is very very nice. It emulates several machines... http://www.smspower.org/meka/

Thanks. Man, I've gone back and forth with that. Any sugegstions??? Once you get used to it, it's not so bad, but I agree....it could be improved. I'd thought about the button #2 in combination with pressing left / right on joystick, but that also seems clumsy. I don't think using the keypad on the controller is much of an option either...

Manual, As I said before...I hope you don't think I'm taking your ideas from your game. I think there's enough of a difference, don't you?

tjb, THANKS! I REALLY like your atari 8-bit asteroids project. It was looking very good.

Hey guys, Here is my new game, "Armchair Quarterback" . Actually, it's called "Terra Attack". Game play is pretty simple. The on screen instructions will get most of the point across. You basically just blast away, protecting your cannons and the Green Towers (4 of them). Each cannon has limited ammo. The red bar below each cannon shows how much ammo is left. The game speed and the enemy AI get smarter as you progress through each level. If you make it pass the BOSS stage (the mother ship takes several hits to killl her), then you get a bonus for the bullets remaining from each cannon and a bonus for the towers that have survived. One destroyed tower will be replaced if you complete that level. When you complete a level, all your destroyed cannons and ammo are revived. Different enemies appear as you progress through the game. The game ends when either: * you lose all your cannons * or you lose all your towers CONTROLS * left moves the currently HIGHLIGHTED cannon turret left * right moves the currently HIGHLIGHTED cannon turret right * left controller button will fire a bullet (missile). * pressing up will switch to the cannon to your right (if it's not destroyed) * pressing down will switch to the cannon to your left (if it's not destroyed) * pressing 1,2, or 3 of keypad will activate shields over the cannons That's it! I would greatly appreciate anything and everything you all think. The attached ZIP FILE has some screen shots.... Scott ps: Pixelboy, I am still working on the 'cross hairs thing'. Need to free up some bytes. EDIT: This is the FINAL .bin release candidate. terra_attack.zip

Hmm.... some of us wish YOU'D finish a game.

Simone, You are probably getting sick of me asking...but this is so much fun...would be nice to see it extended to a full 4k. Maybe more game play stuff....power ups... etc. That would make it a super cool cartridge (although it would stand just fine as is).

AWESOME! So glad you came back to this one. I'm pretty pervious to the arcade original, and I must agree with Nathan on this one: I think it definitely needs the enemy AI in place... But this is really, really good. I can't wait for the cart. Previous players failed to protect them!

>Really hope you will also go for an extended version, this game has so much potential to become an instant cult classic with some added variety... Agreed!! Very good for 1k, but a 4k version would be the bomb. I love the 'twitch' factor in this one. My best is 416.

AWESOME!!!! This might be the best 1k 2600 game ever, next to some of the selections on "Swoops!". I understand the attraction of keeping it to 1k, but are you considering blowing it out to 4k and add more gameplay elements? KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK!

Looks like it will be an 8k game then!

Me three. btw- Daniel, could you finish out your 2k submission to the mini games compo? Maybe make it into a full-fledged game? I liked that one.

I don't think it's too fast at all. I have broken 7k a couple times. A little tip: you don't have to always keep moving. If you go hide out in a corner, sometimes it takes 6-10 seconds before a square comes along and forces you to move. Also, I don't get "lured" (or forced) to go grab the fruit and other power-ups everytime I see one - that will certainly cost you lives. I only grab them if they appear right next to my square. Harvey- I think you probably recognize this. But you should consider combining twoletters into one character for some of the text on the right. It's waaayyy too crowded and cluttered looking. For example, look at PLAY1 in the screen schots. You could spell it all out PLAYER 1 by combining two (half size) characters into one. Just a suggestion. Also, as you said, more sounds will help the gameplay experience. I wonder if you could detect that a square is "close" and maybe play a panic sound? That would make the gameplay seem more tense. Sorta like a "near miss". Keep up the good work. The game is extremely simple, but very fun IMO.

Wow, man. I read your posts and you come across as a very frustrated person. I'm really sorry that it bothers you so bad that some people enjoy the classic game developments for dedicated console systems more than old, 8-bit home color computers. I started out doing 6502 coding for C<64 and Apple ][ computers. I enjoyed it but in no way does it compare to coding for classic consoles. It's just what I prefer...and it sure seems others do as well. It is what it is...

I'm just curious how much of this is bB and how much is 6502 assembly? This is really impressive.

Dangit! I'm usually good at these A.D.D. type of games (I LOVED SWOOPS!). But, after about 40 tries, I could not get more than half of them. Tips? Er, I got them all. Took me about 10 tries.