Deep Zone

[artrag]

they are (almost, space invaders has sprites 14x8, I had to cut and resize to make them fit in 8x8), but actually I'm trying to add on fly definition of gram so to have more enemies and animations

 

If I succeed, I could also move gram update at wave changes, wip

Edited October 4, 2015 by artrag

[+DZ-Jay]

they are (almost, space invaders has sprites 14x8, I had to cut and resize to make them fit in 8x8), but actually I'm trying to add on fly definition of gram so to have more enemies and animations

 

If I succeed, I could also move gram update at wave changes, wip

 

What do you mean by "on fly definition of GRAM"? Do you mean GRAM cycling, or do you mean procedural generation of graphics?

[artrag]

Updating the enemies in gram while they move. I have to see what is better, if updating at each frame change or at each swarm change.

[+DZ-Jay]

Updating the enemies in gram while they move. I have to see what is better, if updating at each frame change or at each swarm change.

 

If you have the GRAM available, it is always better to pre-load once and just switch cards during game play, for it is much faster. If you are trying to conserve GRAM for other purposes, then cycling GRAM is the way to go, for you will only need one or two cards per MOB (depending on the vertical resolution).

[artrag]

All depends on the cpu load and the resulting frame rate...wip...

Edited October 5, 2015 by artrag

[artrag]

Btw cycling isn't the best word as definitions will change according to distance.

[+DZ-Jay]

Btw cycling isn't the best word as definitions will change according to distance.

Sorry for the confusion. Typically in Intellivision programming we call it "GRAM cycling" when you are updating GRAM cards to animate or otherwise update the graphics of objects during actual game play.

 

This is in contrast to loading GRAM during initialization and just switching card indices.

[artrag]

Attempt of animated enemies

dzgorf.rom

[artrag]

Better attempt for animated enemies

dzgorf.rom

Edited October 10, 2015 by artrag

[+DZ-Jay]

Better attempt for animated enemies

 

I will be honest, they looked better the way you had them originally, before the new graphics.

[artrag]

It packs 14 shapes (13 actually) in 62 unique cards
Unpacked you would need 112 tiles

dzgorf.rom

Edited October 11, 2015 by artrag

[+DZ-Jay]

 

I will be honest, they looked better the way you had them originally, before the new graphics.

 

By the way, I meant the non-Space Invaders version. Personally, I think the Space Invaders look does not really fit the enemies in this type of game.

[artrag]

Features:

- Rudimental support for score and lives

- Gyrus controls on 16 directions

- Rudimental support for game over

- Early attempt of variable speeds for warp, enemies and main ship

- Level increases after you pass the 5th enemy type (shown in the top right corner, in yellow)

- You pass to a new swarm after that 10 enemies of a given type has been killed

- New animation for the space warp

All files are in the first post.

dzgorf.rom

[artrag]

File update in the first post

[+DZ-Jay]

 

Features:

- Rudimental support for score and lives

- Gyrus controls on 16 directions

- Rudimental support for game over

- Early attempt of variable speeds for warp, enemies and main ship

- Level increases after you pass the 5th enemy type (shown in the top right corner, in yellow)

- You pass to a new swarm after that 10 enemies of a given type has been killed

- New animation for the space warp

All files are in the first post.

 

 

• I like the "game over" screen, but it comes up when the first life is lost.
• I don't see the yellow number increasing, regardless of how many enemies I kill.
• I liked the previous warp effect (dots) better. The rays are fine, but a bit distracting. In either case, it should be faster.
• The enemies seem a bit slow, but that's fine if it's only during the first wave.

[artrag]

Speed (of enemies bullets and space warp) increases each 6 waves.

If you start with 1 life it is becouse of the test code for game over. I will fix it in the next update.

[artrag]

Updated files in the first post.

Edited October 14, 2015 by artrag

[pimpmaul69]

I like the dots better too. I think it gave a better tunneling/wormhole effect

[artrag]

The problem with dots is that I should use gram tiles to displace the stars in the tiles.

Using one fixed tile gives a poor result.

Edited November 20, 2015 by artrag

[+DZ-Jay]

The problem with dots us that I should use gram tiles to displace the stars in the tiles.

Using one fixed tile gives a poor result.

 

So, are you still preloading all enemy animation cards into GRAM? Perhaps its time to consider dynamic cycling of GRAM.

[artrag]

Vector quantization is the solution.I will use as training sequence the data themselves on 60 centroids instead of 62.

I only need 2 extra tiles for rays at +/- 5 degrees

Edited October 14, 2015 by artrag

[artrag]

But I think also that speeding up the warp could make it fit better in the context.

Have you reached level 1 or 2? How does it look at that speed?

Edited October 14, 2015 by artrag

[artrag]

Using 6 static frames (or better 2 tiles defined dynamically) one could get the sequences in attach (I showed a slow and a faster version).

 

Is it worth ?

 

The sprites in 60 tiles would become like in picture

(find the 3 differences

Edited October 14, 2015 by artrag

[+DZ-Jay]

Using 6 static frames (or better 2 tiles defined dynamically) one could get the sequences in attach (I showed a slow and a faster version).

 

Is it worth ?

 

The sprites in 60 tiles would become like in picture

(find the 3 differences

 

I think the animated one looks perfectly fine. I like it a lot. The slow is "meh," but adequate. The fast one is really cool.

[pimpmaul69]

Fast is really cool. It gives a great flying through spaceeffect where slower is more like flying through a wormhole