Space Raid: new homebrew game in development

[nanochess]

Hi everybody.

 

After a few years of not using 6502 (namely twenty ), I've developed from scratch a new homebrew game called Space Raid

 

And I'm using my post #1024 to invite everyone to play it and comment it because just I've finished a completely playable version.

 

Please give it a look: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/217250-space-raid-2600/?do=findComment&comment=2839868

 

It's still a work in progress. In particular I need someone to test it in real hardware as it will take me a few weeks to build the right hardware for my very beaten Atari Vader.

 

Edited October 2, 2013 by nanochess

[DemonoidTentacle]

Pretty cool, but I struggled to judge my height with the enemy targets.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Pretty cool, but I struggled to judge my height with the enemy targets.

Same here. This problem happens in Zaxxon too, even though you have a height gauge there.

 

Shadows on the surface make this much more intuitive. Unfortunately in space there is no surface, but maybe we can make up one. Or a different solution.

[enthusi]

Hmm, might destroy the visuals, but what about height-dependent coloring?

Edited October 2, 2013 by enthusi

[Kiwi]

The original Zaxxon had a small red crosshair if your ship is the same height as the enemy ship and your ship is in front of the enemy in the space stage. If you play Zaxxon on the Colecovision in the space portion, if you're lined up with the ship, then you'll see the red thing in front of your ship. I played your game yesterday and this is very impressive, awesome job!!!

[nanochess]

Pretty cool, but I struggled to judge my height with the enemy targets.

 

I'm glad you liked it!

 

Yep, always the same problem with isometric.

 

Same here. This problem happens in Zaxxon too, even though you have a height gauge there.

 

Shadows on the surface make this much more intuitive. Unfortunately in space there is no surface, but maybe we can make up one. Or a different solution.

 

I'm thinking about it.

 

Hmm, might destroy the visuals, but what about height-dependent coloring?

 

Too constrained for that.

 

The original Zaxxon had a small red crosshair if your ship is the same height as the enemy ship and your ship is in front of the enemy in the space stage. If you play Zaxxon on the Colecovision in the space portion, if you're lined up with the ship, then you'll see the red thing in front of your ship. I played your game yesterday and this is very impressive, awesome job!!!

 

I need another sprite for the crosshair and that would involve flickering as I'm at the limits. I've it in the TODO list, at the end not everything from the list will get into the game.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

 

I need another sprite for the crosshair and that would involve flickering as I'm at the limits. I've it in the TODO list, at the end not everything from the list will get into the game.

Maybe just change the color of the ship (or the enemies) when it is correctly aligned.

[nanochess]

Maybe just change the color of the ship (or the enemies) when it is correctly aligned.

 

That could be a good idea. I'll check

[san-d-2000]

Looks great!

[mkiker2089]

Why does there have to be height at all? Would a 2d version work better or worse?

[Gabriel]

Wow. Very cool.

 

I got to the Zaxxon robot stand in. I guess I shot in the right place, because he blew up, but I was wondering if I was aiming at the right place. The game does need something to take the place of the altimeter. Particularly if force walls on later levels have different safe zones. The plane doesn't shoot fast enough to be an effective sonar.

 

If not, then most of the time I was just flying at max or minimum altitude. Didn't seem any reason to do otherwise.

 

To me it feels like the shots are too far to the left. I think that was one of my problems with the plane levels. I'd be shooting at approaching planes, and they wouldn't die, and would instead run into me. Did anyone else feel like things were a little off to the side?

 

Is there any way to shoot the missiles that come from the silos?

 

In the other thread there's some talk about a title. I second the motion to call this Zax Zone.

 

I like it.

[nanochess]

To me it feels like the shots are too far to the left. I think that was one of my problems with the plane levels. I'd be shooting at approaching planes, and they wouldn't die, and would instead run into me. Did anyone else feel like things were a little off to the side?

 

Is there any way to shoot the missiles that come from the silos?

 

Yep, shots are a little far on the left, I'm checking that.

 

Supposedly you can shoot the missiles from silos, but I think there is a bug.

[Serious]

This game is looking very good to me. I tried it out in Stella and it's good fun.

[Mr SQL]

Awesome game Nanochess! Just played it on my Vader back to back with Zaxxon, loads of fun

[nanochess]

Awesome game Nanochess! Just played it on my Vader back to back with Zaxxon, loads of fun

Thanks for checking in real hardware!!!

 

And wait to see the new version I'm cooking with a little of magic!

[nanochess]

Ok, latest ultra-awesome version now at http://atariage.com/forums/topic/217250-space-raid-2600/page-3?do=findComment&comment=2841972

[nanochess]

Space Raid has got even better!!! http://atariage.com/forums/topic/217250-space-raid-2600/page-4?do=findComment&comment=2846467

[maiki]

These forums have illogical categorisation. I have just discovered many Atari 2600 homebrews that are actually being posted completely out of Atari 2600 section...

[nanochess]

Almost I forget it. I've uploaded the latest 8K version of Space Raid

 

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/217250-space-raid-2600/page-4?do=findComment&comment=2855575

[Gabriel]

This game is ruthless. I've gotten to the first giant robot a couple of times, but haven't managed to destroy him since the early build. Those gaps in the walls are extremely unforgiving. Going back to the beginning of the level every time I die is just mean.

 

I like the mobots. The rotating gun turrets are pretty cool.

[nanochess]

This game is ruthless. I've gotten to the first giant robot a couple of times, but haven't managed to destroy him since the early build. Those gaps in the walls are extremely unforgiving. Going back to the beginning of the level every time I die is just mean.

 

I like the mobots. The rotating gun turrets are pretty cool.

 

Yep, now if your spaceship is destroyed beyond middle of stage, it will restart in middle.

 

I'll release this as soon as I've checked my solution for stabilizing scanline count. And I plan to give a second look to tolerance in gaps in walls.

 

Thanks for your comments

[JamesL]

If this gets released in cart form consider this my preorder! Great job!

[YANDMAN]

I played this last night and whilst i absolutely am amazed at what you have achieved so far i found it really awkward to play, I rarely managed to shoot ships and couldnt work out where i was for the up/forward height adjust, I will persevere as this is awesome and i would love to play it on real hardware as im sure the sprited look a million times cleaner through a crt rather than my pc and mess, keep up the good work.

[Master Phruby]

This reminds me of Zaxxon Motherbase 2000 on the 32x. I really love what I see so far!

[nanochess]

Improved version with stabilized scanline count just released http://atariage.com/forums/topic/217250-space-raid-2600/page-5?do=findComment&comment=2863278