The Defender 'disappearing ship'

[godzillajoe]

What was the technical reason? I mean you have games like Chopper Command and Laser Blast where you fire giant lasers and your ship doesn't vanish. Was it using a player sprite instead of missile or something?

[kyle]

The whole game wasn't necessary! Just play Defender II and stop looking at the dumb disappearing ship in that stupid game. That didn't help you much did it?

[Atari_Falcon]

I never thought this was a bug when I was a child... As far as I remember you are invincible, too, when you fire and your ship disappears it cannot be shot. I always thought the ship transforms in the laser

 

But on the 2600 much better Defender games exist: Defender 2 /Stargate, Chopper Command and "Wüstenschlacht" (what is a Chopper Command rippoff, where you play a plane instead of a heli).

[DEBRO]

Hi there,

 

What was the technical reason? I mean you have games like Chopper Command and Laser Blast where you fire giant lasers and your ship doesn't vanish. Was it using a player sprite instead of missile or something?

 

The laser in Defender is shared by the same sprite as the ship. This is why you "vanish" when you fire the laser. I think the decision for this was more choice than anything but I haven't dived real deep into it yet to answer fully.

 

I do believe this was Bob Polaro's first game (or very close) for the 2600 so you have to give him credit for that.

 

I haven't played Chopper Command to comment too much on that but when you consider that Bob Whitehead wrote Chopper Command I don't think you can compare the two. Bob Whitehead was a veteran 2600 developer by the time he wrote Chopper Command (remember...he created the 6 digit display routine) where as Bob Polaro was just starting.

[maiki]

Defender 2 is not truly standard 2600 game to compare. It uses extra hardware on the cartridge.

[Arkhan]

Im pretty 2600 n00b, hardware wise..... but I figure its like was said already, you and the sprite cant exist at the same time on screen because of sprite limitations...

 

and the guy probably figured "well why flicker them, the lazer shoots off and goes away so fast it has built in flicker I guess".

 

 

and then he didn't anticipate fast button pressers or turbo pads, thus giving you complete invincibility.

 

The games funny w/ a turbo controller.

 

You basically play steer-the-lazer!

[godzillajoe]

I guess my point was more, why not use a missile, that would have avoided the whole problem right? So the sprite looks like a cool lightning bolt or whatever but would a straight white or red line have been so awful? And if THAT had to flicker, it would just make it look more "lazery"

[+SpiceWare]

Probably because the shot is quite a bit wider than the 8 pixels max that a missile can be.

 

[godzillajoe]

So how does laser blast draw screen length lasers. Are those sprites? Or a sneaky use of playfield?

[DEBRO]

Hi there,

 

probably because the shot is quite a bit wider than the 8 pixels max that a missile can be.

 

Also, keep in mind that this game uses hardware collision. Using the same sprite as the ship allows for a simple check of if the laser is active or not to determine if you should receive a score or lose a life.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

So how does laser blast draw screen length lasers. Are those sprites? Or a sneaky use of playfield?

 

The limitation is to the width of the object (per row), not the height. In Laser Blast the lasers are vertical, not horizontal and only a few pixel wide each row.

 

 

 

[Arkhan]

So how does laser blast draw screen length lasers. Are those sprites? Or a sneaky use of playfield?

 

The limitation is to the width of the object (per row), not the height. In Laser Blast the lasers are vertical, not horizontal and only a few pixel wide each row.

 

 

also, laser blast is a terrible, boring game, so who cares what that game does,

[godzillajoe]

Laser Blast is not a game, it's a state of mind.

[donssword]

also, laser blast is a terrible, boring game, so who cares what that game does,

 

I only picked up Laser Blast 2 years ago, and it immediately rose to the top of my list of games I dislike.