Goat game

[+Tarzilla]

 

 

When I play the game, I feel a strong compulsion to turn around and kick something with my rear legs. I imagine the goat character in the game feels the same way. Is there any way you could work this in?

 

 

 

I agree. maybe a use for the other button on the controller is a spin around and kick the bad object back at the farmer for bonus points feature.

[freewheel]

P.S. Why does the farmer change colors. Does he get embarrassed and turn red?

 

This is why user testing is so important The farmer changes color as the difficulty level increases. I was trying to think of a subtle visual cue - again playing off Astrosmash where the entire screen changed color.

 

[intvnut]

This game is quite goaty! LOL.

 

I propose an easter egg: The ferris wheel coaster goat.

 

The game play is similar to Astrosmash on auto-fire, only sideways.

 

Re: Catsfolly's suggestion about kicking: Maybe have the goat turn around and kick an item. If you kick a "bad" item, you get gain points, but if you kick a good item, you lose points. Edit: I see Tarzilla suggested the same thing.

Edited October 27, 2014 by intvnut

[pimpmaul69]

I think if you do the kick that the goat only turns around when you press the button so u have to time it right. If he stayed backwards then people would just play it that way the whole time. This way its also skill to hit it back. Then you could add extra bonus points if you hit the farmer

Edited October 27, 2014 by pimpmaul69

[Chuck D. Head]

Looks fun, I will check it out tonight. Although, I will admit to being a little disappointed; when I saw the thread title and the first post, my first thought was "hey, a goat is kind of like a small M.U.L.E.", but that isn't where you were going at all.....

[+Tarzilla]

I really like it starting with G - as pointed out in the GoSub thread there are no games beginning with G on this platform.

 

HUGE fan of the Ghostbusters puns. Maybe I'll make a shooter where the goats are the bad guys, then those names would rock.

Those of german heritage will like this name:

GoatenTag

[+DZ-Jay]

The mountain vs farm thing is tough. Technically they both refer to domesticated goats. And the SoM theme is probably the single most recognizable goat-themed song in history. Scratch that, the ONLY recognizable one. I'm impressed that so many people recognize the source, although I guess the audience here is a bit older than other gaming communities.

 

Understood. Then I say stick with the Alpine motif and add a couple of loud living hills (they're alive, you know, with the sound of music... LOL!) to the title screen and Bob's your uncle.

 

(Oh, and remove the barn, or put it on top of a hill.)

 

 

In terms of the food items - part of that is because it's a crude mockup, but part of that was intentional. Our classic games all had that "wtf is this supposed to be" look to them, and you really had to read the manual to figure it out. The blue thing is supposed to be a fish, btw - see what I mean?

A fish!!! Gotcha! LOL!

 

 

The whole death thing is obviously temporary. Blatantly ripped from nanochess's sample code with some noise added. I was thinking of blowing the goat into pieces (the sprite data lends itself to this already) but that would look a bit silly. Perhaps a Pac-Man style collapse animation...

 

And yeah - I've spent countless hours trying to simulate a goat noise on the INTV. Nothing even remotely close so far.

 

I think an exploding goat would go great. So what, if it's a bit silly? You can keep the explosion sound then.

 

Re: background color. Hm, maybe it's not as bad as it looked a while ago. Here's all 3 possibilities for green - thoughts? I kinda lean towards the dark green myself but not sure.

 

Obviously some other colors will have to be adjusted to compensate, depending on final outcome.

 

Personally, I like the "brightgreen" version better, but you'll have to make the goat "Tan" instead of "Grey," since he gets lost in the weeds.

 

 

Alternative, I say "lightgreen," but the green is too bright and does exactly what you were trying to avoid: catch your attention.

 

Those of german heritage will like this name:

GoatenTag

 

GoatenTag! Yes! I like it!

 

Re: Catsfolly's suggestion about kicking: Maybe have the goat turn around and kick an item. If you kick a "bad" item, you get gain points, but if you kick a good item, you lose points. Edit: I see Tarzilla suggested the same thing.

 

I like that idea! If freeweed can make it work, that'll be superb!

[Cybearg]

I like the idea of kicking as well, but I don't think that losing points for kicking good items is necessary: just have the player get no points. So you have to be facing the "food" to eat it and get points, but you need to time your kicks right to get points off of bad items. It makes a double-sided risk-reward: you could just avoid bad items, but then you're missing out on potential points, but you have to make sure that you're not kicking wildly or else you'll kick away all the good stuff, too.

[freewheel]

Minor update - a much improved title screen thanks to Tarzilla (not finished yet, but a mockup of a more final appearance), plus the goat now "explodes" when hit by the rock. Curious what people think of the exploding. It's... half silly, and half awesome. I can't decide.

 

The kicking is DEFINITELY going to happen. What a fantastic idea. I just need to define a couple more cards and figure out the mechanics. Agreed with the last comment - points for kicking the rock, nothing happens for kicking the "food". I'm not sure it's worth trying to hit the farmer with the rock, although that could add an element to the horizontal play (try kicking earlier etc in order to hit him). The kicking will be damned nigh impossible at higher levels, but that's part of the fun I guess. It's gonna be tricky to make sure he "kicks" for long enough to make it fair, but you can't just leave the kicking on forever.

 

 

goat.bin

[Cybearg]

Personally, I'm not sold on the explosion, particularly since it reveals that the beard and part of the second foreleg are shared between two sprites. If it was an animated explosion, that would be another thing.

 

What about a simple knocked-down, dizzy animation? It would really only take 4 extra cards (unless you have the goat in 8x16 pieces, then it would be 6), assuming the horns/eye is a single card that's being placed as needed.

 

Edited October 28, 2014 by Cybearg

[freewheel]

Ooooo, I like. I like A LOT. Lemme play with it some. May not be able to animate but it's certainly doable as I have more MOBs to play with once you get hit.

 

Added the kick. Rudimentary but effective. In fact I like it this way - you can remain in kick position all you like, but it will take FOREVER to score as you miss more points than you gain. Starting to realize how carefully balanced this is gonna have to be. Obviously the sound effects, and heck the graphics, are more like placeholders for now.

 

Also I adjusted the eating detection - it should (roughly) only eat when it's at his head now. Let me know if it seems off - it's a pretty simple tweak to get pixel accuracy here. Much easier than I thought although the code is getting messy.

goat.bin

Edited October 28, 2014 by freeweed

[freewheel]

OK, calling it a night. A nice little animation when the goat dies, complete with seeing stars. Fantastic suggestion. I'm probably going to use completely different sound effects for the death, and the way I'm doing the animation lends itself very nicely to what I have in mind. I've also fixed the "game over" screen as commented on a while ago.

 

Yeah, the colours are a bit pukey together. Working on that, still haven't decided the best background colour.

goat.bin

Edited October 28, 2014 by freeweed

[pimpmaul69]

Love the background colors. Love everything except the rocks are impossible to see. I think you should change the rock color. I think you should make the first pixel row of his legs as part of the head that can eat stuff. It is really kind of hard to perfectly align the head to the food. Another thought is on the title screen if possible, maybe have a rock come flying (lobbing) from the right side of the screen knocking the goat out. anyways these are only suggestions so sorry if i sound like i am demanding these changes

Edited October 28, 2014 by pimpmaul69

[+DZ-Jay]

OK, I'm not sold on the colours, they are too dark. I think it may be better to go with the "brightgreen" colours and make the goat lighter.

I saw the explosion and I was not impressed. The edges are too neatly cut and the movement so slow that you could just tell they were tiles. Perhaps you can try an explosion with less blocky and more rubbish-style cards, and make it a bit faster.

The "dizzy" animation looks cute, but doesn't look different enough from the standing goat. Try squashing the legs a bit more to make it look like its closer to the ground. Perhaps it's the sound effect that throws me off; it plays for far too long, maybe it should be a sharp staccato crack.

Regarding the kicking, I love the idea, but it seems it's missing something. I would much prefer that the legs kick quickly and return to the ground, just a single kick at a time. If the button is left pressed, the goat can remain facing backwards, which doesn't let you eat the rubbish and kills you if another rock hits.

I'm thinking of the "kick" action like this:

• On button pressed: goat quickly turns around, makes a quick kick and remains backwards
• On button release: goat turns around with a slight delay, enough to allow for a new hit.

The turn around delay is just enough to catch another button press. The idea is to allow for the player to rapidly press the action button multiple times without having the goat spastically flip back and forth.

This also prevents the user from just camping out in "kick" mode, and makes using the "kick" a bit more strategic.

Minor update - a much improved title screen thanks to Tarzilla (not finished yet, but a mockup of a more final appearance)

Looks cool, but... you know...

 

I still don't see any hills, alive or otherwise...

 

Also I adjusted the eating detection - it should (roughly) only eat when it's at his head now. Let me know if it seems off - it's a pretty simple tweak to get pixel accuracy here. Much easier than I thought although the code is getting messy.

 

Better, but not there yet. I don't think it's "off," but it is too restrained. I'd say make it slightly bigger and include part of the body. Otherwise, it's neigh impossible eating that fishy ordnance. If you're using "bounding box" collision detection, it could be something like this:

<-- Click to enlarge

 

On the game over screen, shouldn't it reference the "Kick" button, or just the "Action" button, since there isn't really a defined "Fire" button on the Intellivision?

What do you think?

 

-dZ.

 

P.S. Updated screenshot with bounding box.

Edited October 28, 2014 by DZ-Jay

[+DZ-Jay]

By the way, freeweed, you sunnovabiotch! that tune is stuck in my head!!

[catsfolly]

Wow, the kick is in already! That was fast.

It needs tuning , and maybe some animation, but it looks like it will work!

 

 

One suggestion - It looks like you do a bunch of gram defines for the title screen, and then a bunch of defines for the game.

If you put in a "cls" (i.e. clear screen command) before each of these sets of defines, then the player won't see a subliminal flash of strange characters on the screen when the characters are reloaded.

[+Tarzilla]

 

 

Looks cool, but... you know...

 

I still don't see any hills, alive or otherwise...

 

 

 

Growing up on the prairies, I don't get the connection between goats and hills like you do, lots of farmers around me had goats but no hills...

 

So unfortunately all I see in my head when you say "hills are alive" is this:

 

 

[Click to Enlarge]

 

 

The current screen is a place holder (mainly to get rid of the phallic-looking barn )

I'll do another one once he picks a final name. I've also recommended that the goat wander around the screen (even onto the roof) I included code to open and close the barn doors so the goat can come and go. I gave other, more elaborate ideas for a progress screen and other details, mainly so the game doesn't look like a 2600 conversion knocked out in a couple weeks

[freewheel]

One suggestion - It looks like you do a bunch of gram defines for the title screen, and then a bunch of defines for the game.

If you put in a "cls" (i.e. clear screen command) before each of these sets of defines, then the player won't see a subliminal flash of strange characters on the screen when the characters are reloaded.

 

Yeah, it was something more subtle. I was being stupid in what I was doing. But you're correct, the code is littered with DEFINEs now. Already fixed, but I did add a CLS anyway (why not).

[freewheel]

Growing up on the prairies, I don't get the connection between goats and hills like you do, lots of farmers around me had goats but no hills...

 

So unfortunately all I see in my head when you say "hills are alive" is this:

 

It's a Sound of Music reference. The intro song is from the movie, so to people who know the movie, it makes them think of the Swiss Alps and stuff. And "the hills are alive, with the sound of music" is the classic line from the main song in the movie.

 

To me I think goats and farmers and barns. The song just so happens to be one of the only goat songs in public consciousness. Plus the wife has an animatronic goat that sings the song whilst it dances. If you think there's an ear worm now, you need to see this thing in action.

 

With the intro screen, I'm thinking of making a bit of a story here (insofar as goat games can have a story), which would tie into the intermission screens etc. But I may need to steal MOBs back from the barn. I do love the lines you did for it though. Also, I don't see what's wrong with 2600 conversions - it's what the platform basically WAS, with a bit better graphics depending on how you define better graphics, Mr. Plimpton

Edited October 28, 2014 by freeweed

[+Tarzilla]

 

It's a Sound of Music reference. The intro song is from the movie, so to people who know the movie, it makes them think of the Swiss Alps and stuff. And "the hills are alive, with the sound of music" is the classic line from the main song in the movie.

 

To me I think goats and farmers and barns. The song just so happens to be one of the only goat songs in public consciousness. Plus the wife has an animatronic goat that sings the song whilst it dances. If you think there's an ear worm now, you need to see this thing in action.

 

With the intro screen, I'm thinking of making a bit of a story here (insofar as goat games can have a story), which would tie into the intermission screens etc. But I may need to steal MOBs back from the barn. I do love the lines you did for it though. Also, I don't see what's wrong with 2600 conversions - it's what the platform basically WAS, with a bit better graphics depending on how you define better graphics, Mr. Plimpton

I normally have my speakers muted so I never so I never heard the song. Makes way more sense now!

 

Having the barn as a side view instead of front would keep the detail so we wouldnt have to worry about roof angles and give back the 4 MOBs as used now.

 

Given the tools, cart size and knowledge, there is no reason for an Intellivision game written today to look like a 2600 game (not saying yours does.) Given the power of IntyBasic is is easy to knock something out and call it a game. Lord knows we have enough of that with Batari Basic for the 2600. Not the tool's fault obviously.

[+DZ-Jay]

To me I think goats and farmers and barns. The song just so happens to be one of the only goat songs in public consciousness. Plus the wife has an animatronic goat that sings the song whilst it dances. If you think there's an ear worm now, you need to see this thing in action.

 

 

My point is that it is probably in the public consciousness because there are also mountain goats in the Alps.

 

So at least to me it is incongruous to have a barn in flat land and that song. But, hey, it's your game. *shrug*

[wolfy62]

I Ain't Afraid of No Goats

Billy Goat Blitz

GoatBuster

Goat to Hell

You've Goat to be Kidding

Scape Goat

Angry Goat

Those are some great game names for this!

[freewheel]

My point is that it is probably in the public consciousness because there are also mountain goats in the Alps.

 

So at least to me it is incongruous to have a barn in flat land and that song. But, hey, it's your game. *shrug*

 

To take this well off-topic: there are, but the song is about a goatherd. One who herds domestic goats. So it's the same *kind* of goat, but yeah the song is set in the Alps. And they don't have big red barns like we do (at least I don't think so). My thought all along was that this reminds me of many examples of 80s games, where they used some well-known music that had a tenuous connection to the subject matter. Or in a lot of cases, no connection - it was just easy to program. I dunno, it just feels OK to me given the history.

 

I live about an hour's drive from actual mountain goats. They're not even real goats - they're more related to antelope. And no one domesticates those suckers, the live on the sides of cliffs.

[+Tarzilla]

I live 2 hours from the Rockie Mountains, those mountain goats that can scale seeming shear vertical cliffs is amazing to see first hand.

 

 

Even further off topic, I'm surprised Rev hasn't chimed in to ask for a snow level...

 

(Edited to correct has vs hasn't )

Edited October 29, 2014 by Tarzilla

[+cmart604]

 

Even further off topic, I'm surprised Rev has chimed in to ask for a snow level...

lol! That will be coming soon enough.