Atomic Meltdown V2 - Changing Gameplay and other stuff

[disjaukifa]

Hey Guys,

 

As many of you know, Atomic Meltdown has been a game I have been working on and programming for the last year. Its basically down without sound, however I'm really not happy with the code and graphics, I started off not knowing anything and after messing around with Visual Batari Basic, I think I can re-program the game quickly and better than the current version. I have attached my latest build of what I have now dubbed V1.

 

Also as the title says, if I could get one or two people to help me out on this project I would highly appreciate it. I need someone how is good with sound and someone who is good with graphics. Quiet frankly I'm miserable at both. Atomic Meltdown has become a game that I want to make as good as possible and I would love some people to reach this goal. One of my life goals is to design and program a video game and I want something that is complete through and through.

 

I think Atomic Meltdown can be made to be a fun game for the Atari 2600. It has multiple game modes, 1 player, 2 player, 2 player Co-op. Also depending on the difficultly you either beat the game after a certain time limit difficult B or you go on as long as you possible can which is difficultly A.

 

I'm hoping to getting the game back to where it is now in about 2 weeks with enhanced graphics and for the first time sound as well. Any thoughts and improvements you can think to add to the game would be highly appreciated. However I need help, I need someone who is good with sound and someone who is good with graphics. If you can do both that's great.

 

If you are interested please let me know!

 

*UPDATE 10/07/2010* If you look at my 7th post I have decided to start this game from the scratch and complete re-write the entire game. Thanks to some very insightful comments from Random Terrain, I'm changing the game dynamics a little bit to increase the "fun" factor of the game which it is obviously missing. *UPDATE*

 

*UPDATE 10/13/2010* Ok I retract my previous statement, I'm not doing a re-write from teh beginning, too much of the code still usable and I just don't feel like starting from scratch.

 

Thanks

Disjaukifa

 

*PLEASE NOTE* The attached .bin is my most recent OLD version of Atomic Meltdown. To my knowledge this build is done minus sound, everything I believe works perfectly. Though I need to double check this.

Atomic Meltdown.bin

atomic_meltdown.bas

Edited October 13, 2010 by disjaukifa

[accousticguitar]

I'm glad to see you are still working on this. :thumbsup:

 

I'm lousy with graphics and sound so I'm afraid I can't help you out.

[disjaukifa]

I'm glad to see you are still working on this. :thumbsup:

 

I'm lousy with graphics and sound so I'm afraid I can't help you out.

 

Yeah I really want to get this game done, I know I need a little more fixed here and there, but I know I'm close. I figure use the title screen kernel that RevEng to have a really nice looking title screen and then get sound working as well and I should be able to go.

 

-Disjaukifa

[+Gemintronic]

Have you queried PAC-MAN-RED's weak spot for massive sprite design damage? He seems to really be on a roll these days.

 

Alas, I'm only good for VERY short bursts with music. I need graphical composition software to be productive. Just one of my dream projects is Mario Paint for VisualbB

[disjaukifa]

Have you queried PAC-MAN-RED's weak spot for massive sprite design damage? He seems to really be on a roll these days.

 

Alas, I'm only good for VERY short bursts with music. I need graphical composition software to be productive. Just one of my dream projects is Mario Paint for VisualbB

 

I'd be happy with any short burst of music you can make. I'm looking for a a siren sound that goes on and off for the game mode selection and then some kind a buzzing sound when the atom flies through the playfield.

 

Any help would be highly appreciated!!!

 

-Disjaukifa

[disjaukifa]

Hey Guys,

 

I've uploaded the source code as well for you too look at. Please note that the source is well . . . massive, I think its 1500+ lines of code and I really need to go through and label/clean-up the code.

 

Please realize this was my first game, and I have learned a lot in that time. I would appreciate any opinions on the game as well.

 

Thanks

Disjaukifa

[disjaukifa]

Hey Guys,

 

Thanks to some insightful comments from Random Terrain, I'm going to be start programming this game from scratch and try to change some elements of the game and probably reduce other elements to make the game better.

 

I think for now I am going to be getting rid of 2 player to keep the game simple, if I can program it in later, I will. Here was the response I got from Random Terrain and after much thought I agree with his comments:

 

When I play a normal game, I like randomness mixed with fun struggle (instead of painful struggle). When I try your game, it's basically like standing in a restaurant and just stepping out of the way when a waiter comes running by. Stepping out of the way mixed with something else could be fun, but just stepping out of the way by itself gives me no reason to play. It's just not fun to me yet. If there was more to do, maybe something using the fire button or some things I have to avoid and other things I have to 'catch' and maybe put somewhere, then I'd be having some fun.

 

For now I'm not going to worry about animation, color, sound, etc. I'm going to get the basics of the game working again from scratch and try to add another element to the game to make it more complete. I have an idea, but I'm not complete sure how to do it yet. Here is my idea.

 

Play my game now, its will be the same except for one concept. In order for you to "complete" the game and win you need to not only dodge the other flying atoms, but you must collect the other pieces of your atomic matter that was "split" when containment went down. You are going to have to do this a couple of times before you get all your pieces back together. As you get more pieces of your atomic matter back, the more complete it will look, the final complete piece looking like it does now.

 

Please let me know what you think.

 

Thanks

Disjaukifa

[+Random Terrain]

For now I'm not going to worry about animation, color, sound, etc. I'm going to get the basics of the game working again from scratch and try to add another element to the game to make it more complete.

That reminds me of what Johnnie Magpie said about Jeff Tunnell on page 75 of Interaction 'magazine' (Spring 1995).

 

"Jeff explained that he has been prototyping his upcoming games with intentionally bland graphics so that he can test to see if people are really having a good time playing them. If a game without graphics and sound can keep a player's interest, then it is good enough to build a product around."

[disjaukifa]

For now I'm not going to worry about animation, color, sound, etc. I'm going to get the basics of the game working again from scratch and try to add another element to the game to make it more complete.

That reminds me of what Johnnie Magpie said about Jeff Tunnell on page 75 of Interaction 'magazine' (Spring 1995).

 

"Jeff explained that he has been prototyping his upcoming games with intentionally bland graphics so that he can test to see if people are really having a good time playing them. If a game without graphics and sound can keep a player's interest, then it is good enough to build a product around."

 

Sounds like I'm onto something then.

 

Heres my plan of attack:

1. Get player0 working and jittering.

2. Get player1 pieces to randomly appear on the board and be able to "collect" them onto player0 (will need to get near it and press fire to collect the pieces)

3. Get the walls to shrink

4. Get missile0 to launch and then continue to bounce around the board

 

 

Once I get that fair, the core of the game will be complete. From there I can work on enhancing the grahpics, adding sound and including a title screen and ending.

 

-Disjaukifa

[disjaukifa]

Hey Guys,

 

After spending a good 20 hours since my last post working on my game from scratch, I'm no where. My Kung Fu is no good at the moment, so I'm throwing my hands up and trying a different approach. I have several back-ups of my old game, I did that on purpose so if I changed something, I could easily go back to a working version.

 

What I'm going to do now is heavily modifying my current game. For beginners I'm deleting the title screen, because I want to use the new TSKernel, all the game selection options and maybe all the different multiplayer modes as well.

 

I need some advice on game play now. I had an idea on making the game more challenging:

 

I want to make the game so you now have to "collect" other pieces of your atomic matter that was blown off in the meltdown. Pieces of your missing matter will appear on the screen and you will need to go over to it and then press the fire button and hold if for a total of like 2 or 3 seconds, not continuously, until that piece of matter attaches to yours. Here is where I want to make the game better as well.

 

I plan on you having to collect like 5 ~ 10 pieces of matter, however this is where the game will get more interesting, if you are hit buy the flying matter and you have already "collect" a piece of matter, that piece will be knocked off, and you will have to collect it again. The only thing I'm not complete sure about is if I should use the player1 to do the pieces that you are collecting or use the playfield to do it.

 

The playfield would allow me to still use multiplayer mode, however making the game only single player will make the graphics and size of the game considerable better smaller. Any advice would be highly appreciated.

 

Let me know what you think, I hope to have a new binary up possible tonight with my progress.

 

Thanks

Disjaukifa

[disjaukifa]

Hey Guys,

 

I know this isn't much of a start but I have deleted all my multi-player code and the title screen. This has freed up a surprising amount of space. I think I can now condense Banks 2 & 3 together which will let me use Bank 3 for the TSKernel.

 

I hope to have another update soon.

 

Thanks

Disjaukifa

Atomic Meltedown.bin

[disjaukifa]

Hey Guys,

 

Its been a while, and I don't have a binary to give ya'll at the moment, however I should have one soon with changed gameplay, having some issues with the coding at the moment, but trying to make the game a little more fun and a little more challenging as well. As soon as I have something to show, I'll post another update! Just wanted to let you know that this has been worked on!

 

Thanks

Disjaukifa