+Gemintronic Posted September 26, 2013 Share Posted September 26, 2013 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0)http://creativecommo...icenses/by/3.0/ Stranglehand Stranglehand.binStranglehand.bas Description: Use Captain Handy's amazing fist to eliminate his personal demons! If his outstretched hand touches a demon points are awarded. Greater awards are given if the demon is eliminated while the arm matches its color. Demons who touch your arm will do one point of damage to your health. If all six hearts are gone so are you! Only one arm can appear on-screen at a time. Fully retract your arm to enable the opposite appendage. You can change your off-screen arms color by pressing the FIRE button. Occasionally a star will appear that randomly changes your current arms color and awards bonus points. At certain intervals the demons will begin to move faster. Controls: Use reset switch to reset game (including high score) Press FIRE to start game, return to title screen or change off-screen arms color. Press the joystick left or right to stretch Captain Howdy's arm. To switch arms fully withdraw the on-screen appendage. Set either switch to PRO to raise the arms height and increase game speed. Score: 10 points for eliminating color mismatched demon 110 points for eliminating demon matching your on-screen arm color 5 points per continual contact with star Technical Points of Interest: * Procedural short ditty at title screen that changes slightly each time. * Title screen has as close to "no blank lines" as it can * Uses both missiles to create object with complex shape and colors * Detailed, full screen wide "sleeve" using re-sized playfield blocks * High score (but not high score saving) * Uses minikernel for off-screen arm color indicator and life point display * Sound engine has code for 2 effects but adjusts certain values to make a 3rd. Much Thanks: neotokeo2001 for his patience (among other things) bogax for high score processing code SeaGtGruff for his pfhscroll library UPDATE: Game speed wasn't actually being increased for some deep, dark, unfathomable reason. Fixed. UPDATE 2: The star bonus item would stay on-screen when the game looped back to the title screen.. fixed. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabbit 2600 Posted September 26, 2013 Share Posted September 26, 2013 This is really neat! Good job! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Gemintronic Posted September 26, 2013 Author Share Posted September 26, 2013 This is really neat! Good job! Thanks! Many people I've talked to have been jonesing for a Kaboom! kinda experience. I hope peeps start reporting their high scores! ..mine is less than 2000 on normal difficulty I figured it would be more interesting to have your arm be the danger point rather than letting bombs fall to the ground (ala Kaboom!). Makes you wonder if you should risk extending your arm or switching sides. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keilbaca Posted September 26, 2013 Share Posted September 26, 2013 I'll have to give this a shot tonight. Possibly on stream? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Impaler_26 Posted September 27, 2013 Share Posted September 27, 2013 Cool game! I like the fast paced action and the color based scoring makes the game fun to play! Keeps me coming back for "just one more round". My best score so far on normal difficulty is 3895. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Gemintronic Posted September 27, 2013 Author Share Posted September 27, 2013 I was wondering if people would get into the whole "match your color to the enemies" thing. My reaction time is pretty poor so I end up concentrating more on being careful to hit *just* with my hand. As a side the very short tune in the title screen should change slightly every time it is displayed. On emulators it only happens if you die and then are brought back to the title screen. Not bad for two lines of code Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Gemintronic Posted September 27, 2013 Author Share Posted September 27, 2013 I fixed two last minute issues. The download has been updated at top. In other news: shortly after I posted on Twitter about this game I got "followed" by the guys who designed Boogerman! https://twitter.com/Boogerman20th I sent them a twitter asking if they got the rights back so I could make an Atari 2600 Boogerman game Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Impaler_26 Posted October 16, 2013 Share Posted October 16, 2013 New Highscore (normal difficulty): 7135. Try to beat this! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Gemintronic Posted October 16, 2013 Author Share Posted October 16, 2013 That's some serious pointage! You have a Starpath SuperCharger? IF I get this game converted properly there should be a reward for every new highest score. Did the demons seem to go faster over time? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Impaler_26 Posted October 16, 2013 Share Posted October 16, 2013 That's some serious pointage! You have a Starpath SuperCharger? IF I get this game converted properly there should be a reward for every new highest score. Did the demons seem to go faster over time? I don't have a SuperCharger but a reward for every new highscore sounds good. The game did get faster over time though i haven't played it on high difficulty yet. One thing i did notice is that sometimes several enemies come down fast in a straight line. Is that intentional? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Gemintronic Posted October 16, 2013 Author Share Posted October 16, 2013 I don't have a SuperCharger but a reward for every new highscore sounds good. The game did get faster over time though i haven't played it on high difficulty yet. One thing i did notice is that sometimes several enemies come down fast in a straight line. Is that intentional? It's more like a happy accident. I left it in there to throw the expert player off and/or reward the player who ain't doin' so hot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Impaler_26 Posted October 16, 2013 Share Posted October 16, 2013 It's more like a happy accident. I left it in there to throw the expert player off and/or reward the player who ain't doin' so hot. Ah i see. It really threw me off when i saw it first but after playing some more i think it's a neat "feature". 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neotokeo2001 Posted October 16, 2013 Share Posted October 16, 2013 (edited) Several times a game at the higher scores the same color demon will fall in a straight line multiple times. I don't know if it is a bug but it sure helps your score when you can match the color. I can see playing a game like this back in the day. Same color in same location. Edited October 16, 2013 by neotokeo2001 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Gemintronic Posted October 16, 2013 Author Share Posted October 16, 2013 Strangeland.bin_13.png Several times a game at the higher scores the same color demon will fall in a straight line multiple times. I don't know if it is a bug but it sure helps your score when you can match the color. I can see playing a game like this back in the day. High praise! Now that two people have both commented on the straight falling demon phenomena I'll look into it again. if it feels weird I'll take it out. I've vowed to wait until the weekend to find my Starpath SuperCharger. If it works this may be a brand new cassette game! Does anybody know how long it takes to load a 4k Starpath SuperCharger game? The sound file MAKEWAV produced is only 13 seconds.. hmmn. :/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sprybug Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 Not bad for a 4K game. I like the effects too. Kind of reminds me a little of a twisted Kaboom! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Gemintronic Posted October 17, 2013 Author Share Posted October 17, 2013 Not bad for a 4K game. I like the effects too. Kind of reminds me a little of a twisted Kaboom! Thanks! The guys at ArcadeRx were looking forward to another 2600 high score contest. One of their favorite games is Kaboom!. With that in mind I tried to find a "trick" to center the game around. This time it was using SeaGtGruffs pfhscroll library and resizing the playfield to make extending arms. The rest of the gameplay sorted itself out after that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Impaler_26 Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 (edited) Strangeland.bin_13.png Great Score! But why are you playing a different version called "Strange Land" ? Edited October 17, 2013 by Impaler_26 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Gemintronic Posted October 17, 2013 Author Share Posted October 17, 2013 Great Score! But why are you playing a different version called "Strangeland" ? Because I was a giant dingus and misread the title of Dee Sniders horror film Strangeland. sigh. This was another effort for Spooky Empire like Nitebear on Sleepystreet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neotokeo2001 Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 Because I was a giant dingus and misread the title of Dee Sniders horror film Strangeland. sigh. This was another effort for Spooky Empire like Nitebear on Sleepystreet Because I was a giant dingus and misread the title of Dee Sniders horror film Strangeland. sigh. This was another effort for Spooky Empire like Nitebear on Sleepystreet I am meeting Dee Snider next week so theloon made this game to get a few cartridges signed. I will post pictures next weekend. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neotokeo2001 Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 I really don't see a natural progression in speed. Sometimes the demons slow down, other times they speed up. I don't think that is a problem as the game plays fine as is. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Gemintronic Posted October 17, 2013 Author Share Posted October 17, 2013 Strangeland.bin_17.png I really don't see a natural progression in speed. Sometimes the demons slow down, other times they speed up. I don't think that is a problem as the game plays fine as is. The demons have two speeds of falling as well as veering at an angle. However, the longer you play the faster overall they go. It takes more than a few minutes to kick in, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nateo Posted October 18, 2013 Share Posted October 18, 2013 I've vowed to wait until the weekend to find my Starpath SuperCharger. If it works this may be a brand new cassette game! Does anybody know how long it takes to load a 4k Starpath SuperCharger game? The sound file MAKEWAV produced is only 13 seconds.. hmmn. :/ I'd LOVE to have a new Starpath cassette! I can try it on mine this weekend to see if it boots up properly. And yes, 13 seconds is about right. Definitely faster than the Commodore Datasette I've been messing around with lately... that thing takes three and a half whole minutes just to load Jet Set Willy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sprybug Posted October 18, 2013 Share Posted October 18, 2013 I am meeting Dee Snider next week so theloon made this game to get a few cartridges signed. I will post pictures next weekend. That's great. Can't wait to see who you get to sign the "Legends" cart for me. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Gemintronic Posted October 18, 2013 Author Share Posted October 18, 2013 I'd LOVE to have a new Starpath cassette! I can try it on mine this weekend to see if it boots up properly. And yes, 13 seconds is about right. Definitely faster than the Commodore Datasette I've been messing around with lately... that thing takes three and a half whole minutes just to load Jet Set Willy! Thanks for the response! I feel a little more confident now. Avery still makes cassette labels so that angle is covered. It's too early for a list but when there is one you're on it:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Impaler_26 Posted October 18, 2013 Share Posted October 18, 2013 I really don't see a natural progression in speed. Sometimes the demons slow down, other times they speed up. I don't think that is a problem as the game plays fine as is. Yep, the game has it's own unique pace which makes it less predictable. I like that too. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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