snicklin Posted December 29, 2013 Author Share Posted December 29, 2013 All that extra practice makes that person an expert at their own game I suspect that getting the gameplay just right is the most difficult thing. I'm just working out how my game is going to work, i.e. What to do to get out of a level and into another. And who says what I do will be easy enough or too hard for people? Well, this is where testing will come in. And even if that difficulty level is just right, who says it will be fun? I will do my best to keep that in mind. I'm looking at other games now, trying to find out what makes them fun and see if I can apply that across. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+therealbountybob Posted December 29, 2013 Share Posted December 29, 2013 Also look at similar games and work out what could be improved in them and why they are not so fun and what would make you play them again / return to them I'm coding in three difficulty levels, it's (can be) a lot of extra code but when play testing It's quite nice to have different versions/settings to compare in one session - sometimes throws up some interesting variations... Error -1, MEM FULL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snicklin Posted December 29, 2013 Author Share Posted December 29, 2013 Also look at similar games and work out what could be improved in them and why they are not so fun and what would make you play them again / return to them I'm coding in three difficulty levels, it's (can be) a lot of extra code but when play testing It's quite nice to have different versions/settings to compare in one session - sometimes throws up some interesting variations... Error -1, MEM FULL My original inspiration was from Druid which I used to love back in the day. It's not really that similar though, just a top down / angled sort of view. Some people are saying it is like other games, purely coincidence though. I need to fully define in my mind what it going to be, which is a bit difficult when memory is now getting low. I will look for some other games, wow, Youtube is good for that. I can also compare games on other systems easily then. As for the difficulty levels, at the moment that is defined by how quick the mice run (I have different mouse breeds at different speeds) and where they are placed. The unlocking of the maze mechanism will be where the difficulty will mainly lie. I will include some randomness in order to provide something new each time. And I see it as a game that will be completable, but you will be competing to beat your best time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lost Dragon Posted December 30, 2013 Share Posted December 30, 2013 Not a coder, nor touched a real A8 in years, but i do try and follow the homebrew stuff best i can and just loving the look (and sound) of this. I've a lot of respect for those who jump straight in and get coding, like you've done here and wish you the very best with this project. I too, would personally prefer, fewer update video's, with bigger jumps in progress, if that helps. :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snicklin Posted December 30, 2013 Author Share Posted December 30, 2013 Not a coder, nor touched a real A8 in years, but i do try and follow the homebrew stuff best i can and just loving the look (and sound) of this. I've a lot of respect for those who jump straight in and get coding, like you've done here and wish you the very best with this project. I too, would personally prefer, fewer update video's, with bigger jumps in progress, if that helps. :-) Thank you! I will do less update videos on this site, though if you go in and choose to subscribe to my videos on Youtube, you may find a few there over time. If you choose not to, you won't see so many. I've noticed that it has been picked up by a few websites from different countries, so you can see what they say (through translation if required) and I'm posting into some of them. I'll still add some text to here from time to time, adding in what I've done. So, on progress since the last video: * Added collision detection with the mice, and energy depletion. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poison Posted December 30, 2013 Share Posted December 30, 2013 I love this music!! It is great oldschool tune with oldschool game. These two things gives me great retro feeling:) Music sounds me such as Ruff And Reddy and game looks like a Yoggy Bear or Tagalon (both my favorite games:) ). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snicklin Posted December 31, 2013 Author Share Posted December 31, 2013 I loved Yogi Bear and Tagalon. The concept of using switches was brought about by Yogi. The switches aren't that obvious as in Yogi, so you will need to look carefully. I haven't added many yet. I would like the graphics a bit more like Tagalon, i.e. Not so obviously tile based. Thank you for the encouraging comment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snicklin Posted February 15, 2015 Author Share Posted February 15, 2015 Latest update: Note:* The blurred fence on the title screen isn't blurred in the real game. It scrolls nicely.* I've accidentally added a bug in that the sound is off-key in the main game at the very start.Modifications since last time:* Switches actually do something, the mud on the right hand screen disappears partially after flicking the switch.* There is a sound effect when the switch is flicked. The music drowns out the sound effects currently.* Going up a level doesn't crash the game.* Touching an enemy has a sound effect.* Energy bars on the screen using missiles.* Title screen Next Few Updates:* Different switches do different things.* Switches may become bottles of water.* Graphics to be overhauled.* Add mention to Miker (music) and Synthpopalooza (graphics) to the title screen.* Fix off-key sound in the music.* Reduce volume of main music to make the sound effects more prominent.* Move code out of the VBI and into the main code. 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
popmilo Posted February 15, 2015 Share Posted February 15, 2015 Nice progress! ps. Why are trees 'flickering' (those dots that blink) ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snicklin Posted February 15, 2015 Author Share Posted February 15, 2015 Nice progress! ps. Why are trees 'flickering' (those dots that blink) ? Ahh, I forgot to mention that! That's just me doing some testing. I've got it changing the font in the VBI. Just to check if it was working I modified one font slightly to add some fruit to the tree. I've got Bob (Synthpopalooza) looking at reformulating the graphics and so I will drop his fonts in afterwards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
popmilo Posted February 15, 2015 Share Posted February 15, 2015 If it's 50fps change you can get decent graphics improvement with dithered colors and such. Cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tezz Posted February 15, 2015 Share Posted February 15, 2015 Nice one Steve, you're making good progress Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snicklin Posted February 15, 2015 Author Share Posted February 15, 2015 If it's 50fps change you can get decent graphics improvement with dithered colors and such. Cool. Yes, he's working on some graphics in ICE with some dithered colours and flicker. He's shown me some early prototypes of the data for the trees and walls and they're looking nice. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snicklin Posted February 15, 2015 Author Share Posted February 15, 2015 Nice one Steve, you're making good progress Thank you Terry, but it's just so sloooow going...!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GroovyBee Posted February 15, 2015 Share Posted February 15, 2015 Definitely coming together. A few thoughts :- - Main dude needs more frames of animation or you need to display each frame for longer. He looks a bit manic to me at the moment. - The choices of colour are a bit too stark for my tastes. But since you are having a graphics overhaul then thats probably bot going to be a problem. Keep it up! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snicklin Posted February 15, 2015 Author Share Posted February 15, 2015 Definitely coming together. A few thoughts :- - Main dude needs more frames of animation or you need to display each frame for longer. He looks a bit manic to me at the moment. - The choices of colour are a bit too stark for my tastes. But since you are having a graphics overhaul then thats probably bot going to be a problem. Keep it up! "Main dude"!!! "Horace" may I say!! Yes I know what you mean, I've only seen it though since you've mentioned it. I need to make a decision as I spent so long manipulating a spreadsheet to produce him that I haven't the will to go in and do all that again. I may however do so though because I would like (if memory allows) for Horace to be able to walk diagonals which he can't at the moment. I will see for now whether displaying the frame for twice as long works. And as you say, the graphics are going to be overhauled completely. They'll have a similar style but they'll bring about more colours. I've seen the proposed colour scheme and it is quite natural looking which will complement the game well. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synthpopalooza Posted February 15, 2015 Share Posted February 15, 2015 The trees themselves are going to have a 5 level green shade to them. I haven't gotten much farther except that I have some prototype bricks and walls which I may still yet redesign. It's in the Super IRG (Gem Drop) mode (10 colors per char cell, 14 colors onscreen at once when adding in inverse chars). Been looking at some tutorials on pixel art, and trying a few shading techniques to see what happens. This is really a lot of fun! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snicklin Posted February 16, 2015 Author Share Posted February 16, 2015 The trees themselves are going to have a 5 level green shade to them. I haven't gotten much farther except that I have some prototype bricks and walls which I may still yet redesign. It's in the Super IRG (Gem Drop) mode (10 colors per char cell, 14 colors onscreen at once when adding in inverse chars). Been looking at some tutorials on pixel art, and trying a few shading techniques to see what happens. This is really a lot of fun! I guess it is good that what you're doing is for a real project rather than a little demo for yourself or a web page. I hope it remains as much fun later on! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mclaneinc Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 Woohoo, looking good Snicks.. Slowly slowly catchy monkey as they say, take your time and get the game play bang on but so far its looking very nice indeed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snicklin Posted February 16, 2015 Author Share Posted February 16, 2015 Woohoo, looking good Snicks.. Slowly slowly catchy monkey as they say, take your time and get the game play bang on but so far its looking very nice indeed. I've got loads of ideas for it. But time and memory (both that from the Atari and mine) are my limitations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synthpopalooza Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 I guess it is good that what you're doing is for a real project rather than a little demo for yourself or a web page. I hope it remains as much fun later on! Well, I've been itching to design graphics for something real ... I think it will be a lot of fun! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peruchi Posted March 23, 2019 Share Posted March 23, 2019 Any news about the development of this game? Or is it dead? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snicklin Posted March 23, 2019 Author Share Posted March 23, 2019 It is pretty much dead. Making into a game rather than a walking demo showed my imagination to not be as good as it should be. Around the time I gave up, I was moving to Australia and my main consideration was relocating and getting a good name in employment. I did later start another game which fits my skills better, A follow up to Football Fantasies. So when I find time, I work on that. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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