Machine Posted February 22, 2017 Share Posted February 22, 2017 (edited) Why even have the word "lives" next to the hearts? I think everyone knows what the hearts mean without "lives" in front of it. Move the hearts over to the side alittle more and lose the "lives" on both players. Looking good. I would love a cool splat when froggy gets run over. Edited February 22, 2017 by Machine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+CyranoJ Posted February 22, 2017 Share Posted February 22, 2017 I am so ready to be done with this game. Making a game is not easy. Throwing all the parts that make a game together is. Getting it to play in an enjoyable and engrossing way is the difference between a great game and mechanical soul-less recreation. That last 5% takes more time than the entire first 95. Without being prepared to put that effort in, there isn't much point in starting I have a bunch of half-arsed projects that contain most to all of what is required to call the project 'feature complete' - but they lack refinement, or that un-definable element called 'fun'. Until I can work out what that missing piece of magic is, they are not, and could not, be considered "finished" - even if they work 100% and contain all that they need. If you just get this to the point where the players can race up the screen and get to the next level, and call it "done" and walk away that would be a great dis-service to both yourself and the players. You want people to come back and play this more than once, right? Make the effort, it is just as important, if not more, than functionality. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAVE 1 GAMES Posted February 22, 2017 Author Share Posted February 22, 2017 Why even have the word "lives" next to the hearts? I think everyone knows what the hearts mean without "lives" in front of it. Move the hearts over to the side alittle more and lose the "lives" on both players. Looking good. I would love a cool splat when froggy gets run over. Damn you are absolutely right. I can change out the Lives part in exchange for the Game Over splat screen. Didn't think about that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAVE 1 GAMES Posted February 22, 2017 Author Share Posted February 22, 2017 Making a game is not easy. Throwing all the parts that make a game together is. Getting it to play in an enjoyable and engrossing way is the difference between a great game and mechanical soul-less recreation. That last 5% takes more time than the entire first 95. Without being prepared to put that effort in, there isn't much point in starting I have a bunch of half-arsed projects that contain most to all of what is required to call the project 'feature complete' - but they lack refinement, or that un-definable element called 'fun'. Until I can work out what that missing piece of magic is, they are not, and could not, be considered "finished" - even if they work 100% and contain all that they need. If you just get this to the point where the players can race up the screen and get to the next level, and call it "done" and walk away that would be a great dis-service to both yourself and the players. You want people to come back and play this more than once, right? Make the effort, it is just as important, if not more, than functionality. Yes you are right. I am going to stick with it and put the effort in. I kind of have to now anyway. Today was just very frustrating because I had to renumber nearly everything in the object list due to conflicting errors. There are actually STILL some errors, but I hid them well, so they can not be seen 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+CyranoJ Posted February 22, 2017 Share Posted February 22, 2017 Damn you are absolutely right. I can change out the Lives part in exchange for the Game Over splat screen. Didn't think about that. Why are they mutually exclusive? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAVE 1 GAMES Posted February 22, 2017 Author Share Posted February 22, 2017 Why are they mutually exclusive? only 40 k left for assets now. I'm not exactly sure how much I have left but I put something that was 70 k in and the game would not boot. (scrambled screen and buzz noise) took something out that was 40 k put the 70 k thing back in and it worked. the game over splat screen was the 40 k something I took out. I have all assets IN now except a credits screen (which I am going to try and print text on screen now for that) I had to remove the other mod files so there is only one music track now. That lives overlay is a separate element, another .bmp file. I thought if I get rid of it perhaps it would free up enough space to bring the game over screen back Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+madman Posted February 22, 2017 Share Posted February 22, 2017 On the screens are you using a full screen size static image or are you using tiles? Is the title screen a single image or are you using tiles for the bubbles/rocks/whatever with the rest overlayed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAVE 1 GAMES Posted February 22, 2017 Author Share Posted February 22, 2017 On the screens are you using a full screen size static image or are you using tiles? Is the title screen a single image or are you using tiles for the bubbles/rocks/whatever with the rest overlayed? All of the big screens are full images. None of it is tiled. It's ok. I figured out that my big flashy intro is hogging up all of the space. I scaled it down 50% then scaled it back up to correct size in game. It doesn't look any different than before (well maybe just a little bit, but not much!) That saved me 588 KB. Which is more than enough to restore the game over screen, all the mod tracks I took out, the credits screen I made and I will still have enough room to add a couple more sound effects! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+CyranoJ Posted February 22, 2017 Share Posted February 22, 2017 Someone didn't Do The Math 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Machine Posted February 22, 2017 Share Posted February 22, 2017 Damn you are absolutely right. I can change out the Lives part in exchange for the Game Over splat screen. Didn't think about that. Do I get a "producer" or executive producer" title? Seriously, CJ is so right. This game deserves to be finished and polished! It is a very good start so take all the time you need... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAVE 1 GAMES Posted February 22, 2017 Author Share Posted February 22, 2017 (edited) secret 2600 level. not an exact replica, but close enough! Now to add the old VCS scanlines on the left side of the screen as an overlay type object for authenticity! I'm thinking now I should probably duplicate the little black box in the lower right hand corner for the left side of the screen for this. That would give player 1 his little gauge for health and Player 2, classic style! Edited February 22, 2017 by Jeffrey_Bones 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAVE 1 GAMES Posted February 22, 2017 Author Share Posted February 22, 2017 (edited) there much better FOOD FOR INSPIRATION Edited February 22, 2017 by Jeffrey_Bones Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+CyranoJ Posted February 22, 2017 Share Posted February 22, 2017 Wouldn't you need 5 homezones at the top? especially in two player for a tie breaker. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Welshworrier Posted February 22, 2017 Share Posted February 22, 2017 I believe the arcade game has 5 pads/homes - always used to hate getting the leftmost one Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAVE 1 GAMES Posted February 22, 2017 Author Share Posted February 22, 2017 Wouldn't you need 5 homezones at the top? especially in two player for a tie breaker. yeah you are probably right. It would be pretty simple to add too because it's just sprite displayed on screen that signifies the next step in the win subroutine. I have to do all of this for Player 2 anyway, might as well put a 5th one in there. I would have to just edit the background to have 1 more lilypad on the street stage, one more igloo on the snow stage, one more satellite on the space stage and one more square slot on the 2600 stage. (the lava level doesn't have anything special at the top, I couldn't think of anything :/ ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+madman Posted February 23, 2017 Share Posted February 23, 2017 Is the bg for the 2600 version also a large bitmap? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAVE 1 GAMES Posted February 23, 2017 Author Share Posted February 23, 2017 Is the bg for the 2600 version also a large bitmap? yes but it is 4 bit color and very small. I think it is only around 19 K. Pretty decent size considering its actual size in length and width Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAVE 1 GAMES Posted February 23, 2017 Author Share Posted February 23, 2017 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyuStMkw6ws&feature=youtu.be this next video is not much to show other than yes I got the lava texture in for the 3rd level's background and it's scrolling to simulate lava. OK so that element is in there now no big deal. One thing I am having trouble with is the mod files. There are 3. But in order to squeeze everything into the game the lava level music and the space level music are stored in ROM in the assets.txt file. I really just wanted to see if they in fact did work so I labeled the level 1 music ROM and the lava music ABS in that list and then called MOD_LAVA instead of the normal tune. What I need to know is how do I pull it out of ROM on command? Obviously any other mod playing at the time whether it be from ABS or from ROM will need to be off, but what actually pulls it out from ROM to begin with? If I try to call it like normal by it's name MOD_LAVA it won't even build the rom it just gives me a message saying build error. There has to be a way to pull it out. CJ or ggn? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+madman Posted February 23, 2017 Share Posted February 23, 2017 Color cycling might be a better way to achieve the lava effect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+CyranoJ Posted February 23, 2017 Share Posted February 23, 2017 Color cycling might be a better way to achieve the lava effect. It's very obvious where the wrap point is. The image needs to tessellate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+CyranoJ Posted February 23, 2017 Share Posted February 23, 2017 CJ or ggn? Doesn't look like an API problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAVE 1 GAMES Posted February 23, 2017 Author Share Posted February 23, 2017 It's very obvious where the wrap point is. The image needs to tessellate. There. Now it's seamless 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAVE 1 GAMES Posted February 23, 2017 Author Share Posted February 23, 2017 here is the 2600 mode switch at the title screen. I dont know if you guys can hear because the music volume is set way too loud but as i press the corresponding "mystery" numbers on the numeric pad the old frog "Bleep" noise can be heard to confirm. Now right now this is just the background swap and the jingle from the old game, but this same subroutine will be used to clear out all the level 1 objects/cars and load up the 2600 props. I already have all of those in memory too (Thanks to Mr C from the Spriter's Resource). I will likely set up this whole entire scene tomorrow. (I actually look forward to that, it's gonna be fun!) I'm even considering making the frog bleep while moving in this mode, and as I already stated before I also want those old 2600 scanlines on the left side of the screen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lice7oAZj40&feature=youtu.be Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+madman Posted February 23, 2017 Share Posted February 23, 2017 Those aren't scanlines on Atari 2600 games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAVE 1 GAMES Posted February 23, 2017 Author Share Posted February 23, 2017 Those aren't scanlines on Atari 2600 games. Well what are they? Dead pixels? I never noticed them on ANY of the 7800 games and i saw them on a LOT of 2600 games. Usually the older ones or third party games Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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