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City Defence (WIP)


TwentySixHundred

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The game is definitely a lot more challenging now and has a lot better balance of action.

 

In the higher levels there was literally no chance of destroying the missiles on the left and right 1/4 of the screen as the time it took to maneuver over to them plus the time it took for my bullet to travel to them was way too slow to reach the missile before it hit the ground. Because of this, the point scoring slowed dramatically in the higher levels.

 

Once a certain threshold of points + lack of city to destroy was reached, the only threat of death came from a direct hit on my gun. This threat was only felt around level 7 or so when the missiles were raining down fast and furious. This made me stay very close to the center of the screen to avoid death which highly minimized my points between levels. I actually repositioned my gun RIGHT above my base between each shot to make sure I was ready for any direct hits that might be coming.

 

In the end the positioning didn't help as the missile that took me out was fast enough that I had only one chance to shoot accurately, but I wasn't able to. That deduction of 500 points for losing your defence base is a real bummer at the end. ? 
 

SUGGESTIONS:

- Scale the points for shooting the missiles as the levels increase

- Scale the points taken away by bombing the cities as the levels increase

- The missiles should target your remaining city a little more


BUGS:

- Missile sometimes falls down the VERY left hand side of the screen and you can't move over far enough to shoot it. It can't harm you though so it's not really an issue.

 

image.thumb.png.851f3c175e8867817473ccfa6dcc9a72.png

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2 hours ago, ZeroPage Homebrew said:

The missiles should target your remaining city a little more

Couldn't agree more with this statement. Just played a couple more games and during the last couple of waves, I just hovered over my gun and waited.

 

Btw, can you a wave counter, possibly above the score?  It would be nice to see how many waves were completed.

 

2 hours ago, ZeroPage Homebrew said:

That deduction of 500 points for losing your defence base is a real bummer at the end. ?

Yup...this hurts, but I kind of like it! ?

 

Missile Defender.jpeg

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We'll be featuring Missile Defender LIVE on tomorrow's (Friday) ZeroPage Homebrew stream on Twitch at 6PM PT | 9PM ET | 2AM GMT! Hope everyone can watch!

 

Twitch Stream: https://www.twitch.tv/zeropagehomebrew/

 

Games:
- Missile Defender (2020 WIP) by Anthony Quinlan aka TwentySixHundred
- Z1B (2018) by Guilherme Xavier (Donsoft Entertainment)
- Cisney (2018) by Guilherme Xavier (Donsoft Entertainment)
- Corrirama (2018) by Guilherme Xavier (Donsoft Entertainment)
- Labimento (2018) by Guilherme Xavier (Donsoft Entertainment)
- La Cabrita (2019) by Guilherme Xavier & Emmanoel (Retr0beard) Ferreira
- KITE! (2009) by Simon Quernhorst aka Simon

1945258569_20200214-LetsPlay.thumb.jpg.c59846ab003c057a85a51fd17c2c9ec4.jpg

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9 hours ago, ZeroPage Homebrew said:

The game is definitely a lot more challenging now and has a lot better balance of action.

 

In the higher levels there was literally no chance of destroying the missiles on the left and right 1/4 of the screen as the time it took to maneuver over to them plus the time it took for my bullet to travel to them was way too slow to reach the missile before it hit the ground. Because of this, the point scoring slowed dramatically in the higher levels.

 

Once a certain threshold of points + lack of city to destroy was reached, the only threat of death came from a direct hit on my gun. This threat was only felt around level 7 or so when the missiles were raining down fast and furious. This made me stay very close to the center of the screen to avoid death which highly minimized my points between levels. I actually repositioned my gun RIGHT above my base between each shot to make sure I was ready for any direct hits that might be coming.

 

In the end the positioning didn't help as the missile that took me out was fast enough that I had only one chance to shoot accurately, but I wasn't able to. That deduction of 500 points for losing your defence base is a real bummer at the end. ? 
 

SUGGESTIONS:

- Scale the points for shooting the missiles as the levels increase

- Scale the points taken away by bombing the cities as the levels increase

- The missiles should target your remaining city a little more


BUGS:

- Missile sometimes falls down the VERY left hand side of the screen and you can't move over far enough to shoot it. It can't harm you though so it's not really an issue.

 

image.thumb.png.851f3c175e8867817473ccfa6dcc9a72.png

Thanks for the feedback James, yeah now i have that bug out the way i can concentrate more on gameplay again.  I played around a little with making the missiles only drop within a certain range (city area). I still have the code commented out because it is a bit buggy at the moment so im not happy with it.

 

I agree having only the mainbase as the only possible way to die is not enough. So my thoughts at this moment is to add an additional economic building that you need to protect. Something like a powerstation or oil refinery that if you lose it, your targeting system becomes unable to function at full capacity (ie slower). This would add that element of stratagy and pull the player away from just defending their mainbase gun.

 

I also like the risk vs reward scoring ramp up through the later levels which also makes the player want to defend the general city buildings. However i still need to think of ways to make them rebuild and a decent reward for saving them.

7 hours ago, sramirez2008 said:

Couldn't agree more with this statement. Just played a couple more games and during the last couple of waves, I just hovered over my gun and waited.

 

Btw, can you a wave counter, possibly above the score?  It would be nice to see how many waves were completed.

 

Yup...this hurts, but I kind of like it! ?

 

Missile Defender.jpeg

Thanks for testing on real hardware and confirming the bug is fixed. The feedback is much appreciated. I was thinking the same thing while testing that a wave counter is much needed. It's nice to know what level you're on or have made it to for self accomplishment ?.

 

As for the issue of only needing to protect the mainbase i have thoughts running through my mind (see response to James above). I think for those going for high scores, calculating the remaining buildings left after each round, will make people want to protect them. Especially in the later levels and if they pay off well, with the addition of an economy factory, it will really mix up the gameplay. ?

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Couple of suggestions :

 

1.   Player shot  can pass the bombs with no effect  if the  target is beyond the dropping bomb. Only contact with the explosion at target can destroy bombs.

Perhaps the player shot itself could destroy the bombs.

 

2.  It seems you are using a scheme for shot movement that moves left or right until missile x = target x  , and then up until missile y = target y  ( or sometimes the other order) .  

 

This causes the hard turns of the missiles .   You could so something like the following , with variable ZONE 

 

Divide the screen up into say 7 zones

 

  1  4  5

  2  4  6 

  3  4  7 

 

do a zone check for the  target   whenever a shot is registered.  And set the  movement of the shot according to zone .

 

For example , if zone = 1 ,   perhaps every frame the shot y would increase  1 while  shot y < target y , and the x could decrease every frame or every other frame  ( just need a frame counter cycling between 0 and 1) while shot x > target x. Would have to play around to get it right since the kernel y doesn't match the width ( 160 pixels) , but with some trial and error this might smooth out the shot motion a bit .  

 

This is similar to what I use in my 1vs1 Basketball and Tennis   for shot movement .  

 

 

 

 

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21 hours ago, ZeroPage Homebrew said:

We'll be featuring Missile Defender LIVE on tomorrow's (Friday) ZeroPage Homebrew stream on Twitch at 6PM PT | 9PM ET | 2AM GMT! Hope everyone can watch!

I won't be able to watch the livestream, but will watch the replay.?

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8 hours ago, easmith said:

Couple of suggestions :

 

1.   Player shot  can pass the bombs with no effect  if the  target is beyond the dropping bomb. Only contact with the explosion at target can destroy bombs.

Perhaps the player shot itself could destroy the bombs.

 

2.  It seems you are using a scheme for shot movement that moves left or right until missile x = target x  , and then up until missile y = target y  ( or sometimes the other order) .  

 

This causes the hard turns of the missiles .   You could so something like the following , with variable ZONE 

 

Divide the screen up into say 7 zones

 

  1  4  5

  2  4  6 

  3  4  7 

 

do a zone check for the  target   whenever a shot is registered.  And set the  movement of the shot according to zone .

 

For example , if zone = 1 ,   perhaps every frame the shot y would increase  1 while  shot y < target y , and the x could decrease every frame or every other frame  ( just need a frame counter cycling between 0 and 1) while shot x > target x. Would have to play around to get it right since the kernel y doesn't match the width ( 160 pixels) , but with some trial and error this might smooth out the shot motion a bit .  

 

This is similar to what I use in my 1vs1 Basketball and Tennis   for shot movement .  

 

 

 

 

Thanks for the feedback @easmith ? As for the first suggestion that should be the case. It's the explosion itself that destroys the warheads. There is no collision detection with the player missile and and the warheads. I was umming and arring whether to colission detect if the missile crosses the path. Then decided having the leaving the target area as strike zone. That way it gives an z axis approach (sort of) so you really need to get the strike zone on-point.

 

Your second assumption is correct, i am using a <> algorithm for missile travel to the target cords. I was trying to the method you have mentioned, along with many others, so that the missile would travel alot more like the original game. Including hunting for an disassembled binary to see what they used (no such luck). The question i have is would this method work with bB as you mentioned double kernels right? I haven't much control over the kernel  

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New build! After watching this played on ZPH stream i really need to add a way to get your powerstation back. Im thinking as James suggested if the powerstation is lost you get it back in the next season. Also as mentioned by Tanya i will probably add phasing of the moon for each season. Anyway enjoy ?

changelog:

  • random spawning locations of warheads: not perfect, however better then i had.
  • time cycle: each wave is a month - 3 months a season - 12 months a year - summer, fall , winter and spring.
  • power station: you need to protect this building - if it takes a hit your targeting system only runs at %50 capacity.
  • probably some other stuff i can't think of at the moment.

latest build: Missile Defender 20200215.bin

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I probably didn’t make myself clear sorry . 

 

Do not have to change the kernel . Just would need a routine that detects target zone , and then would have to adjust your shot movement routine to have a different movement scheme for each zone.   What I was trying to say is that the movement scheme will depend on your kernel . For example if you are using a single line kernel , then each frame moving missile up one and over one would be close to 45 degrees . if you are using 2 line kernel then this would not be the case . So you would just have to trial and error movement schemes ( move horizontally each frame / every other frame / twice per frame . Etc ) until it looks right 

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14 minutes ago, easmith said:

I probably didn’t make myself clear sorry . 

 

Do not have to change the kernel . Just would need a routine that detects target zone , and then would have to adjust your shot movement routine to have a different movement scheme for each zone.   What I was trying to say is that the movement scheme will depend on your kernel . For example if you are using a single line kernel , then each frame moving missile up one and over one would be close to 45 degrees . if you are using 2 line kernel then this would not be the case . So you would just have to trial and error movement schemes ( move horizontally each frame / every other frame / twice per frame . Etc ) until it looks right 

ahh ok yes i get what you're saying, i might have to play around with that and see what i can do. I was wondering how they did it with the original. I was starting to think they used two fixed point variables that float depending on the x and y axis. But it makes sense to have the movement skip a frame here and there accordingly ?

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55 minutes ago, sramirez2008 said:

I like the latest set of changes.  How about adding back 75% speed during 2nd wave (wave before change in season), else the game will still get brutally hard at higher levels.

 

63F20A99-5D8B-4896-A3BD-8BB3EE1E7FAB.jpeg

Yeah it really hits hard when losing the powerstation. I like that idea and could possibly work with something like a small and large powerstation scheme. So rather then losing the building completely, you could have two chances and stages of the powerplant. That means if it takes the first hit it will become a small plant at 75% capacity then the second hit a complete loss at only 50%. Same for how the building is restored, first stage as a small plant then lastly a large plant 100% capacity.

 

Not sure if that's a good idea but it will add some more strategy to the game, while giving the feeling of accomplishment. Maybe even having the game start with a small plant so the player is rewarded for protecting it idk.

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10 hours ago, TwentySixHundred said:

ahh ok yes i get what you're saying, i might have to play around with that and see what i can do. I was wondering how they did it with the original. I was starting to think they used two fixed point variables that float depending on the x and y axis. But it makes sense to have the movement skip a frame here and there accordingly ?

I’m sure there is a more sophisticated method than what I suggested ?

 

Ask  a question on the programming forum and someone like nukeyshay will probably just rattle of the proper technique !

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Looking into the four stages of moon phase and im not sure what looks better.

 

So as of the moment i have this:

1.png.03d22b5f9b8e1f9a6e552b79de9f81b9.png 2.png.2fecf02130de0b095c21268d25d8faa6.png 3.png.69b03f49fc8c7ed94737ef561142a991.png 4.png.b8dee6690971df38b43ea8d377fd1c43.png

 

Not sure if i should change to this:

1.png.03d22b5f9b8e1f9a6e552b79de9f81b9.png 2.png.2fecf02130de0b095c21268d25d8faa6.png 3.png.69b03f49fc8c7ed94737ef561142a991.png 4b.png.28057aee89bc1ae4ceb83f00b1cf5d9e.png

 

Or just this:

1.png.03d22b5f9b8e1f9a6e552b79de9f81b9.png 2.png.2fecf02130de0b095c21268d25d8faa6.png 3.png.69b03f49fc8c7ed94737ef561142a991.png 4c.png.495d5d414cf36bd7ccf69071f7248d0a.png

 

Obviously i can throw the order around whichever way, something like this for example:

3.png.69b03f49fc8c7ed94737ef561142a991.png 4.png.b8dee6690971df38b43ea8d377fd1c43.png 1.png.03d22b5f9b8e1f9a6e552b79de9f81b9.png 2.png.2fecf02130de0b095c21268d25d8faa6.png

 

3.png.69b03f49fc8c7ed94737ef561142a991.png 4b.png.28057aee89bc1ae4ceb83f00b1cf5d9e.png 1.png.03d22b5f9b8e1f9a6e552b79de9f81b9.png 2.png.2fecf02130de0b095c21268d25d8faa6.png

 

3.png.69b03f49fc8c7ed94737ef561142a991.png 4c.png.495d5d414cf36bd7ccf69071f7248d0a.png 1.png.03d22b5f9b8e1f9a6e552b79de9f81b9.png 2.png.2fecf02130de0b095c21268d25d8faa6.png

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47 minutes ago, easmith said:

i would choose this 

 

1 minute ago, sramirez2008 said:

Me too.

Thanks for the suggestions! I have decided to reverted back to that phase. It was actually the one i went with to begin with, then have been changing my mind on and off ?

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So i have a new updated build - I am still in the progress of playing around with some code that isn't active in this build. The regeneration of buildings from wave to wave or season to season. It's far from done and experimental until i find something solid to work with. At this moment it's very ROM costly so i will probably try looking into some sort of data table to read and write playfield. Anyway this build has a few improvements.

 

Changelog:

  • explosions - debris destroys powerplant
  • score changes - loss of power plant now 100 - loss of mainbase now 200 (was a far too harsh before)
  • fall colour change - darker orange hue
  • difficulty progression - 60% slower - smoother learning curve

 

Latest build: Missile Defender 20200216.bin

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the order of the phases of the moose are full, less than, null, greater than, and then full again.  you don't actually have that sequence listed!

 

on the one hand, phases of the moon are really by month and not by quarter so it doesn't really matter.  but if you want to represent the passage of time using the moon and you might want to use the more traditional sequence

 

 

 

 

 

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