Title screen or more playable screen?

[youki]

Hi,

 

This is a kind of pool.

 

Considering that space on cartridge for old system is limited.

 

What would you prefer to have :

 

- A game witih a nice title screen and some little cinematic between level.s

 

- Or would you prefer to not have nice title screen and cinematic but more levels.

 

Thanks.

[Nukey Shay]

Bankswitching makes the question moot. One could create a title display that exists totally seperate from the game (which means that all ram and resources are available to it).

 

If limited romsize is an issue, gameplay vs. non-gameplay. More levels, options, whatever...provided that those options are fun to play (this is where some games messed up).

[+selgus]

Bankswitching makes the question moot. One could create a title display that exists totally seperate from the game (which means that all ram and resources are available to it).

I agree, do both. The project I am working on has two title screens, but it doesn't affect the actual game.

--Selgus

[youki]

Bankswitching makes the question moot. One could create a title display that exists totally seperate from the game (which means that all ram and resources are available to it).

I agree, do both. The project I am working on has two title screens, but it doesn't affect the actual game.

--Selgus

 

 

I can not do Both. I have to make a choice. I'm developping a Colecovision game. I would like then once completed create few cartridges (at least one!) , that will be the first cartridge i do and it is my first coleco project. So i don't want use bank switching (do not even know if possible on coleco) , my idea was simply to use a 32k eprom to keep thing as simplier as possible.

 

32k is lot of memory , but my game is very big ,i should have a minimum of 30 screens . May be after having squizzed these 30 screen in the game i will have some free space left. So the question is what to do with that free space. More screens you can play , or title and cinematic.

[+selgus]

I can not do Both. I have to make a choice. I'm developping a Colecovision game. I would like then once completed create few cartridges (at least one!) , that will be the first cartridge i do and it is my first coleco project. So i don't want use bank switching (do not even know if possible on coleco) , my idea was simply to use a 32k eprom to keep thing as simplier as possible.

I guess I don't understand why you say you can't do both? If your target is 32K, this shouldn't really be an issue. I assumed you were talking about a 2/4K cartridge on the 2600, where you could just move to a bank selection scheme.

 

How big are your levels in terms of rom space? What would your title screen look like? These are more factors for which direction you should go, IMHO.

--Selgus

[youki]

I can not do Both. I have to make a choice. I'm developping a Colecovision game. I would like then once completed create few cartridges (at least one!) , that will be the first cartridge i do and it is my first coleco project. So i don't want use bank switching (do not even know if possible on coleco) , my idea was simply to use a 32k eprom to keep thing as simplier as possible.

I guess I don't understand why you say you can't do both? If your target is 32K, this shouldn't really be an issue. I assumed you were talking about a 2/4K cartridge on the 2600, where you could just move to a bank selection scheme.

 

How big are your levels in terms of rom space? What would your title screen look like? These are more factors for which direction you should go, IMHO.

--Selgus

 

The question is not a technical question , it is just what would prefer to have ?

 

As "gamer" or "collector" ,

 

Do you prefer one with few more levels and less presentation.

 

or do you prefer a game with nice title screen and other cosmetic things and less levels.

 

 

For instance in the game i 'm making i can choose :

 

(1) To put a nice bitmap title screen and code 2 or 3 additionnal cinematics for inter-level

or (2) Let a very basic text based title screen and no cinemetic and in that case add 2 more playable screen.

[+selgus]

The question is not a technical question , it is just what would prefer to have ?

 

As "gamer" or "collector" ,

 

Do you prefer one with few more levels and less presentation.

 

or do you prefer a game with nice title screen and other cosmetic things and less levels.

Okay, as a "gamer" I would say production value-- whatever give you more of that. Are those levels variants of each other, or are they very unique? Does your title screen and cosmetic things tie the whole game together, or is it tacked on?

 

Cut scenes and presentation can help the overall experience in your game, or they can be things people just button through.

 

Extra levels can give people more challenge and variety, extending the life of the title, or they can get monotonous.

 

But since you are looking for opinions, and you "really" can do both, I would go for the end-to-end solution with less levels. But that's just me.

--Selgus

[Pixelboy]

You're new to ColecoVision programming, are you not? I honestly think a novice homebrew programmer should focus on the game itself, to program it (graphics, sounds, logic, controls and AI), debug it to make it work properly, and then see how much ROM space he has left for extras. You may be surprised at how little space you have left for fancy title screens and intermissions, especially if you program your game in C language.

[youki]

You're new to ColecoVision programming, are you not? I honestly think a novice homebrew programmer should focus on the game itself, to program it (graphics, sounds, logic, controls and AI), debug it to make it work properly, and then see how much ROM space he has left for extras. You may be surprised at how little space you have left for fancy title screens and intermissions, especially if you program your game in C language.

 

I'm new to Colecovision programming but i'm not novice at all in programming.

 

I started programming back in 1982 on machine with 0.5k of RAM (a sharp pocket computer PC1215 or something like that)... I know assembler 6502 , 68000 , 80x86 and i just toyed a little with the Z80 for the coleco.

 

I wrote my first "homebrew" game on C64 in 1984 back in time i Coded some demo and homebrew on Atari St , and lot of other things on PC. And Development (unfortunaly not game dev) is my job.

 

 

For now i use C for my coleco development because it is more convinient and i don't have lot of time , but if really needed i will write some part in ASM .

 

My game have already 12 screens with "fancy" but not definitive graphics , 20 sprites defined and 90% of logical control is done and for now the rom size is 11k.

 

The thing to see , if how much space will take the sound track.... for now i don't have it... so...

[cvga]

I'm interested

 

Since you already have multiple game screens, I'd probably vote to add a nice title screen or cut screen animations.