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City Defence (WIP)


TwentySixHundred

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10 hours ago, D Train said:

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

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for the feedback, yeah i just listed the 4 phases as the game has 4 seasons and 3 months to a season. Rather then over complicating the feature i have just went for the appearance rather then accuracy to how may times the moon phases in 1 year IRL. However you have my mind ticking as maybe each wave that is represented as a month the moon could phase. It would work over the whole year as 3 x 4 = 12. So it would still come full circle after the year is completed ? Also gives that feeling of progression each wave

8 hours ago, sramirez2008 said:

Phases of the moon...

Moon Phases.png

 

@TwentySixHundredBased on above, the sequence could be as below, assuming you want to begin with a "New Moon"

MD Moon Phases.JPG

Was one of the sequences is was considering, it will also add that surprise to the player when they see a the moon for the first time when entering fall. The other possibility was to start with a full moon and phase through the cycle from then on. This was the part i kept umming and arring about when testing the game. Swapping the sequences around is very easy so no issues there, it's just deciding what looks best ?

1 hour ago, sramirez2008 said:

Played a game today.  There’s still one bomb that falls near the power plant, but is nearly impossible to hit.

EAEEF400-B92A-4265-B1C9-806588B8B807.jpeg

Yep that pesky bomb and it really bugs me, it's the random spawn math i have at the moment. I notice it happens on an average of once or twice during most games. When i get a chance i will have to refine the math a little more or add prevention code. The most annoying part i found was, one game it was too far to take out and then the explosion debris blew up my powerstation ?

 

I have to say nice score though, i was playing last night just for fun and thought my score of slightly over 8,000 was good ?

Edited by TwentySixHundred
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Ok so another update and i really like this one although it is very costly with ROM (over 2000k!). However with that said i find it really adds some nice aesthetics ?. Thanks to the feedback about moon phases i have collected all the feedback and compiled it into something i'm excited about.

 

From @easmith and @sramirez2008 and myself with the preference of moon phase sequence.

1.png.a7ba2f4c2b190debd493a0124d2a8e45.png 2.png.943146f51f4668ecf30a9a90a747ce16.png 3.png.cdf1934dca0ea04c4fcb5cfc42175421.png 4c.png.e5892e10ffe1abbd758b4f39034f2766.png

 

To @D Train with the recommendation of monthly (per wave) phases for a complete cycle each year!

 

I feel this really gives the feeling of progression after each wave and changes the static background every month (wave). It's these small fine tuning touches that keep people engaged and wanting to play (including myself). Anyway enough rumbling on for now, here's the latest build ?.

 

Changelog:

  • Moon phase - monthly changes for a yearly full cycle - positioning and transitions

Latest Build: Missile Defender 20200217.bin

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10 hours ago, TwentySixHundred said:

Bug fix when full cycle through the seasons, the moon phase bugged out. Is all good and here is the fixed build

 

Changelog:

bug fix - moon phase

 

Latest Build: Missile Defender 20200217-a.bin 32 kB · 9 downloads

Wow...anyone else try out the 202002170-a ROM?  The missiles are dropping really fast, right from the start.

 

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56 minutes ago, sramirez2008 said:

No worries.  Thanks for the quick updates. Can’t wait to get home and try the latest build. 

 

12 minutes ago, sramirez2008 said:

Latest HS using build 20200218

I like the Moon phases.

 

1039D9BA-25C6-411C-A62C-84C945039B36.jpeg

Not a problem, yeah thanks i actually really like how the moon phase has turned out. There is also redundant code that can be removed and net back atleast 1000 bytes so not as costly as i first thought. Now that i have that area sorted i can concentrate on refining the random missile placement. It will be nice to fix the missiles that lurk around the edges of the screen. Anyway nice score i haven't managed to get anywhere close to that score yet ?

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Thanks. I’ve been using a Suncom Slik Stik. They have a very short throw, make it a bit easier to respond. 

I think your game is progressing nicely. Can’t wait for you tackle the random missiles as well as the missile trajectories. I see that you received reply’s from Debro and Ed Fries concerning the missile trajectory logic. Great to see members supporting one another.?

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New update! Randomness i feel is under control for what im trying to achieve here. I feel it's probably the most optimized and randomized within the correct boundaries. Anyway i like it and find the glaring patterns are toned down with nice variance at little cost.

 

Changelog:

  • randomization - vast improvements of placement - optimization - boundaries

Latest Build: Missile Defender 20200219.bin

 

Enjoy!

 -Anthony

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Noticed that part of a destroyed building was left floating in the air while the bottom part was removed/erased.

 

Any way to get more detail on the moon? Something like the one rendered on the splash screen?

 

Also, when the game is over, if you press fire, you don't have a chance to see your hi-score. It's wiped out with the start of a new game. Any way to delay that or require the press of the reset button? Because it's all to easy to be firing away, lose, then instantly start again.

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1 hour ago, Keatah said:

Noticed that part of a destroyed building was left floating in the air while the bottom part was removed/erased.

 

Any way to get more detail on the moon? Something like the one rendered on the splash screen?

 

Also, when the game is over, if you press fire, you don't have a chance to see your hi-score. It's wiped out with the start of a new game. Any way to delay that or require the press of the reset button? Because it's all to easy to be firing away, lose, then instantly start again.

Thanks for the feedback @Keatah, yeah i haven't gone too far as of yet with the playfield building. They do need some work with one the issue you mentioned although i wasn't too worried about it. Secondly i am in the process of working out the best way to have buildings rebuild overtime (like a pass-of-time). Also some sort of reward for each building saved depending on it's size ect.

 

As for the moon yes and no. the moon is playfield graphics so although the vertical resolution is high the horizontal res is low and nothing can be done about that. The only option to get the same detailed moon as the title is by using a sprite. Problem is and you wouldn't think it, but i have one sprite remaining for use and sort of have a plan for that later down the track.

 

I can change the restart input from joyfire to reset or have the option to have both depending on what position a console switch is. I may just do that as im sure some others would rather having joyfire to restart. It's that age old debate among players that don't want to keep hitting reset, while others would rather the console switch as a prevention.

 

Thanks ?

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New build!

 

Changelog:

  • reset options - left difficulty switch set to B = both RESET and JOYFIRE or left difficulty switch set to A = RESET only
  • bug fix - code bug making it possible to bypass the score under rolling giving an extremely high score

Latest Build: Missile Defender 20200219-b.bin

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New Build! So now you need to defend the city buildings because once they're gone it will also result in gameover regardless if you have the mainbase. What is the point of a mainbase if you haven't a city to defend? There is also improvements to the accuracy of the warheads when striking your cities buildings, The tip of the warhead now represents what building takes the strike!

 

Changelog:

  • collision detection - accuracy improved - fixed
  • city buildings - gameover if player has no remaining buildings after the wave

Latest Build: Missile Defender 20200220.bin

 

Enjoy!

 -Anthony

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2 hours ago, TwentySixHundred said:

New Build! So now you need to defend the city buildings because once they're gone it will also result in gameover regardless if you have the mainbase. What is the point of a mainbase if you haven't a city to defend? There is also improvements to the accuracy of the warheads when striking your cities buildings, The tip of the warhead now represents what building takes the strike!

 

Changelog:

  • collision detection - accuracy improved - fixed
  • city buildings - gameover if player has no remaining buildings after the wave

Latest Build: Missile Defender 20200220.bin 32 kB · 6 downloads

 

Enjoy!

 -Anthony

Holy cow! You've been busy. I'll try to test the latest build today.?

 

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Next update i am contemplating whether to add reward points based on the amount of buildings remaining after each round. Kind of like an incentive to keep as many buildings as possible, however i am not sure if that's too generous.

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On 2/19/2020 at 11:54 AM, sramirez2008 said:

Holy cow! You've been busy. I'll try to test the latest build today.?

 

Tested Build 20200220 and can confirm that the "gameover if player has no remaining buildings after the wave" is working. Have you considered ending the game immediately, after the last building is eliminated vs after wave completion?

 

Played a couple of games and it looks like the boundary improvements may have made it so that the power station is no longer struck by a missile.

 

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8 hours ago, sramirez2008 said:

Tested Build 20200220 and can confirm that the "gameover if player has no remaining buildings after the wave" is working. Have you considered ending the game immediately, after the last building is eliminated vs after wave completion?

 

Played a couple of games and it looks like the boundary improvements may have made it so that the power station is no longer struck by a missile.

 

Thanks for testing @sramirez2008, yeah i did consider ending the game straight after the last building is struck.

 

However i decided against that for a couple of reasons:

1) You get the chance to score some extra points and the player is not rudely interrupted.

2) If i decide to add the regeneration of buildings after waves, there may be a chance the player will get a building back.

3) Due to the way the buildings are checked/read it's done within the intermission between waves. Doing it this way takes the load off the main game loop. If i were to do checks of the buildings within the mainloop during gameplay there would be a significant performance loss.

 

As for the chances of the powerstation being struck you're correct there is alot less of a percentage. There is also reasons behind this and i have considered to do further checks, however this is the trade-off for optimization. The more random the less chance of missiles striking any one position more then once. This works well with spreading the chances across the whole city which is great, however the outer regions or should i say extreme ends of the number generation have less chance. During my tests i had noticed a few bombs make their way to the powerstation, so i am thinking you were unlucky/lucky with the seed randomization.

 

Then there is the issue of random number generation is not-so-random, so calling the rand function will always produce a pseudo random number starting with a seed value of zero (patterns emerge). Unlike other languages the seed value cannot be changed as one would like with lets say C. So i have a workaround that adds alot more randomization however it's not perfect and the further i randomize the more it will impact on performance. End of the day for the 2600 there is a handful of options and as the game gets fast paced (action genre), it's probably best to lean towards the optimized side rather then complicated calculations.

 

Once again cheers for testing, suggestions and feedback it really is valuable information ?

Edited by TwentySixHundred
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27 minutes ago, TwentySixHundred said:

If i decide to add the regeneration of buildings after waves, there may be a chance the player will get a building back

Totally forgot about this possibility.

28 minutes ago, TwentySixHundred said:

Due to the way the buildings are checked/read it's done within the intermission between waves. Doing it this way takes the load off the main game loop.

I see...thanks.

 

I do need to play this build more. Thanks.

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New Build! This adds reward points per intermission for the remaining buildings you have left. Depending the size of the building depends on the reward and if you manage to save a building from destruction you get that buildings full reward. If a warhead manages to blowout the first floor then kiss that building goodby as it becomes inaccessible. This will also result in gameover if none of the buildings have the main floor. So there is alot of points to had if you save as many buildings as you can.

 

Scoring:

  • single story - 10 points
  • two story - 20 points
  • three story - 30 points
  • four story - 40 points
  • five story - 50 points
  • six story - 60 points
  • total - 730 points

Changelog:

  • rewards - remaining buildings are now calculated at the end of each wave

Latest Build: Missile Defender 20200222.bin

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7 hours ago, TwentySixHundred said:

New Build! This adds reward points per intermission for the remaining buildings you have left. Depending the size of the building depends on the reward and if you manage to save a building from destruction you get that buildings full reward. If a warhead manages to blowout the first floor then kiss that building goodby as it becomes inaccessible. This will also result in gameover if none of the buildings have the main floor. So there is alot of points to had if you save as many buildings as you can.

Latest Build: Missile Defender 20200222.bin 32 kB · 10 downloads

Like it!  New HS posted.

MD.jpg

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2 hours ago, sramirez2008 said:

Like it!  New HS posted.

MD.jpg

Thanks for testing, it looks like you got taken out by losing the main base. Have you found any bombs go for the powerstation yet? I was getting quite a few last night when testing however i did notice some games it was rare others frequent.

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