PinOut

[PacManPlus]

Hi guys:

 

Here is a project that I recently started, but will stop for now. It's called 'PinOut' - it's a clone of BombBee (a Pinball / Breakout hybrid - hence the name) but would feature 32 different boards. They are Pinball-ish, but you still need to hit all of the drop-down targets (i.e. bricks) to go on to the next playfield.

 

I'm at a stand-still because the ball gets 'stuck' waaay too often, and I can't figure out how to prevent that. I've given it up for now, and will move on to attempt an original XM-specific game.

 

Things to note:

 

- The 'select' screen doesn't do anything, and you need to hit 'Select' to start the game (not fire)

- I am not sure what to do once the BONUS rollovers all have just the letters lit.

- I am not sure if I want the 32 playfields to be in succession, or random after the first one.

- I also wanted to add other nuances to make this different from Bombee / GeeBee / CutieQ

- The left difficulty switch switches between Paddle and Joystick controls.

 

Anyway, here's what I have so far.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let me know what you think...

 

Thanks,

Bob

[Atari_Falcon]

Well, that's a really interesting project! I mean one genre the 7800 definately is missing is pinball... I like Midnite Magic anyway, but combining breakout and pinball AND support paddle input sounds very nice.

[GroovyBee]

I'm at a stand-still because the ball gets 'stuck' waaay too often, and I can't figure out how to prevent that. I've given it up for now, and will move on to attempt an original XM-specific game.

 

Are there other objects to avoid? E.g. can objects get in the ball's path randomly that might affect its movement? If not, how about pre-computing the complete trajectory for the ball every time it hits something? If you use Bresenham's algorithm you'd know exactly where the ball is going to be at any instant down to pixel level and the current X, Y velocity wouldn't be an issue. If the whole line computation takes too long just pre-compute a line that is twice the velocity vector in each direction.

[PacManPlus]

Yes, either paddle (there are two) can (hopefully) get in the ball's way to alter it's direction.

 

What I need to do is somehow prevent a ball (for example) to get 'stuck' between a bumper and a wall, which happens quite frequently. I tried adding a little randomization while the ball is in travel, but it doesn't seem to help much.

[GroovyBee]

How about adding some rotation instead of randomisation when you get stuck? By that I mean negate the X, Y velocity (as appropriate) then add a 20 degree turn anticlockwise (for example) to them too. If you were pre-computing the ball's trajectory you could compare the new end coordinates with the start coordinate of the last line. If they are the same apply the rotation too.

[TrekMD]

That look very good. I'll be giving it a spin! Thanks!

[gambler172]

Hi Bob

Looks great.......I am sure,you will solve the problems.....do not give up.

greetings Walter

[Cebus Capucinis]

Aww, I thought this game was about splicing wires to make things work with unintended other things.... MATCH THE PINOUT!

 

 

This looks like a very, very cool project -- hope you eventually can figure out the problems and make it work!

[Atari_Falcon]

Yes, either paddle (there are two) can (hopefully) get in the ball's way to alter it's direction.

 

What I need to do is somehow prevent a ball (for example) to get 'stuck' between a bumper and a wall, which happens quite frequently. I tried adding a little randomization while the ball is in travel, but it doesn't seem to help much.

 

Well, I don't know how this is done in Assembler, but I solved a similar problem in Omikron basic when I wrote some kind of breakout clone for the Atari Falcon computer. If ball is caught between two, or three points, set a counter and give the ball a new direction after 10 circles or so. (Techno Ball - also an excellent Breakout game on the Falcon did something like that, too and that was were I got my idea from). An other simple solution would be a "tilt" feature, also no big thing and common in pinball games!

 

You will manage to solve this problem, that's no question

[VectorGamer]

I love Bomb Bee!

 

I'm not sure about the 32 different boards idea. If I understand correctly, you would have to knock out all the bricks to progress to the next board? Won't that eliminate some of the bonuses awarded in the game?

[PacManPlus]

Thanks

 

But I'm actually *basing* it on that game, but want to make it different enough so that it's not a direct port. The bonuses for clearing each section of bricks are not there, although the "bonus X 1000" will be implemented somehow.

 

I hope that doesn't deter anyone from playing it; I am still trying to make it fun. It's a vision of what the 'next step' would have been if Namco had continued in the direction they were going in, had Pac-Man never been realized.

 

That being said, I'm *still* having issues with the ball rebounds. I tried making a small 'spin' on the ball, and I also tried Atari_Falcon's idea of keeping the last (24 in my case) sets of collision coordinates and seeing how many duplicates there are when another collision occurs. I did it that way because I noticed that sometimes the ball can get stuck in an 'W' type pattern, so I would need a bunch of sets of coordinates to check against.

 

Anyway, we'll see how this goes.

 

Thanks,

Bob

[VectorGamer]

What about setting up options like you did with PMC? For example, if you only wanted to play Bomb Bee, that would be one option. If you wanted to play 32 random boards, that too would be an option.

[keitaro]

What about setting up options like you did with PMC? For example, if you only wanted to play Bomb Bee, that would be one option. If you wanted to play 32 random boards, that too would be an option.

 

I second that!!

I think would be better a Bomb bee/Gee bee/Cutie Q compilation. There were designed inspired by pinball games, so they will fit better in one screen/table game mode, trying to score as max as possible.

Anyway, the idea of sucessive screens like Arkanoid is great too (Imagine it with a password option, or level select like in some Atari coinop games).

 

But game modes aside, It's always a pleasure to see surprises like this. Good work as usual.

[+SpiceWare]

Looks cool - reminds me of Pinball on the VIC 20

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HMEsa6IUgQ

[Lendorien]

I have to say that I really do hope that you keep working on this game. I've long thought that a game system is not truly mature unless it has a pinball game (Granted, this is not a "true" pinball game, but it's close enough). Heck, even the 3DO had a pinball game (that sucked). The 7800 needs one. You're filling a void!

Edited January 28, 2011 by Lendorien

[lucifershalo]

I love that game,

so I hope that you will be able to finish it....

[+Stephen]

Looks cool - reminds me of Pinball on the VIC 20

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HMEsa6IUgQ

Colorful little machine for what it was!

[PacManPlus]

What about setting up options like you did with PMC? For example, if you only wanted to play Bomb Bee, that would be one option. If you wanted to play 32 random boards, that too would be an option.

I wanted to make a pinball / breakout hybrid game, so I started with the graphics used in BombBee. I didn't want to port it directly (which is why I changed the name) I was going to add little nuances to this game as well, so it would have been along the lines of BombBee, but not a direct port.

 

 

Looks cool - reminds me of Pinball on the VIC 20http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HMEsa6IUgQ

That's actually a port of CutieQ: http://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detail.php?game_id=7462

 

This being said, I am still having too much difficulty with the ball movement with this game. I am putting it down for now. I may pick it up again in the future, but I'm not sure.

I'm sorry... I'm starting to think it wasn't a good idea to post this at all...

 

Thanks,

Bob

[Lendorien]

This being said, I am still having too much difficulty with the ball movement with this game. I am putting it down for now. I may pick it up again in the future, but I'm not sure.

I'm sorry... I'm starting to think it wasn't a good idea to post this at all...

 

Thanks,

Bob

 

Hey, it's your project. No need to apologize! I think most of us understand that this homebrewing stuff is done for fun. If it's a bear trying to eat you, it's probably not much fun. Boy do I know how that is.

 

Of course, we'll hope you come back to it some day and figure out the collision issues, but if not, well, so be it. Don't worry about it, and don't feel the need to apologize either.

Edited January 29, 2011 by Lendorien

[+SpiceWare]

Colorful little machine for what it was!

yep - in spite of what some here at AA would have you believe, it was a great little machine. I got mine in 81.

 

That's actually a port of CutieQ: http://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detail.php?game_id=7462

Never saw CutieQ before - learn something new every day.

[GroovyBee]

I did it that way because I noticed that sometimes the ball can get stuck in an 'W' type pattern, so I would need a bunch of sets of coordinates to check against.

 

What happens when you find out that you are stuck in an infinite loop? How about keeping the vectors that you applied to get you away from that point too? Thus if you know the vector, choose a new vector that will propel the ball at least 45 degrees away from the "erroneous" last vector.

[+Stephen]

Colorful little machine for what it was!

yep - in spite of what some here at AA would have you believe, it was a great little machine. I got mine in 81.

I'm definitely completely platform agnostic now, especially with regards to the old classic machines. Too bad I wasn't back when they were new - I missed out on a lot of cool stuff.