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City Defence (WIP)


TwentySixHundred

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1 hour ago, TwentySixHundred said:

Anyway enough of all that and more to the point, i guess i am asking for responses of whether others like this feature? Do you think it's worth it and does it make the game feel more rewarding? Does it suit this sort of game? Is it just annoying? Check out the ROM and if you can let me know that would be much appreciated.

Well, I personally like the point-display feature. I think it makes your game more visually distinctive. Whether or not it is worth the tradeoffs is up for you to decide, of course.

 

For the wave counter, I would suggest temporarily changing the score color to something the stands out more, and maybe blanking out the unused digits (with the "space" special score character). At least, that's what I did for Space Game, along with spelling out the word "wave" with 2 sprites.  Just a thought.  ?

 

 

SpaceGame-Final-NTSC.png

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30 minutes ago, Karl G said:

Well, I personally like the point-display feature. I think it makes your game more visually distinctive. Whether or not it is worth the tradeoffs is up for you to decide, of course.

 

For the wave counter, I would suggest temporarily changing the score color to something the stands out more, and maybe blanking out the unused digits (with the "space" special score character). At least, that's what I did for Space Game, along with spelling out the word "wave" with 2 sprites.  Just a thought.  ?

 

 

SpaceGame-Final-NTSC.png

I agree the more i have been playing it im really liking the point-display feature. Even the missus popped her head over my shoulder and asked me what those number were. When i explained she thought it was really cool (high praise from her she's not really into Atari).

 

I really like the idea and what you had done with space game using special score characters, you wouldn't have a link on how i blank those zero's out? I may have read about it at some stage but can't remember. Even if i just blank out the unused zero's and change the colour it will look alot better and more fitting to the display ?

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I personally did with a custom score_graphics.asm that is used in a lot of people's projects (attached). Add it to the same directory as your code so that it gets used instead of the stock one. I enabled the blank symbol with:

 

   const fontcharSPACE=1

If you haven't already, define the score digits with their own labels:

 

    dim sc1=score
    dim sc2=score+1
    dim sc3=score+2

Individual nybbles can be set to $A to use the blank symbol. For the left 4 digits, that's easy:

 

    sc1=$AA
    sc2=$AA

 

If the wave is less than 10, then you can also blank out the next digit (though a 2-digit wave display probably wouldn't be bad, either):

 

    sc3=$A0+sc3

 

score_graphics.asm

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13 minutes ago, Karl G said:

I personally did with a custom score_graphics.asm that is used in a lot of people's projects (attached). Add it to the same directory as your code so that it gets used instead of the stock one. I enabled the blank symbol with:

 


   const fontcharSPACE=1

If you haven't already, define the score digits with their own labels:

 


    dim sc1=score
    dim sc2=score+1
    dim sc3=score+2

Individual nybbles can be set to $A to use the blank symbol. For the left 4 digits, that's easy:

 


    sc1=$AA
    sc2=$AA

 

If the wave is less than 10, then you can also blank out the next digit (though a 2-digit wave display probably wouldn't be bad, either):

 


    sc3=$A0+sc3

 

score_graphics.asm 68.45 kB · 0 downloads

Thanks mate yeah i had the score digits defined however if i overwrite the original score graphics.asm file with this one my custom font is removed. Am i placing the file in the wrong directory? Or were us saying in the directory of my game where the .bas file is?

 

edit: yeah that worked, is there a way to get my custom font back?

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4 minutes ago, TwentySixHundred said:

Thanks mate yeah i had the score digits defined however if i overwrite the original score graphics.asm file with this one my custom font is removed. Am i placing the file in the wrong directory? Or were us saying in the directory of my game where the .bas file is?

Yes, I meant in the same directory as your .bas file. bB will use custom files that you put in your game directory so that you don't have to overwrite stock files to use something custom for a particular project.

 

If you have created your own custom font, then you will need to add it to this file, or modify one of the existing fonts replacing the digits with your own.

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5 minutes ago, Karl G said:

Yes, I meant in the same directory as your .bas file. bB will use custom files that you put in your game directory so that you don't have to overwrite stock files to use something custom for a particular project.

 

If you have created your own custom font, then you will need to add it to this file, or modify one of the existing fonts replacing the digits with your own.

Brilliant thanks alot for the help it works a treat! Really adds that polish to the game ? Yeah i was using retroputer one of the custom fonts with bB and for some reason it wont use that font style. Im guessing i will need to edit the font within the asm file to change it yeah?

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8 minutes ago, Karl G said:

You should be able to use RETROPUTER with the custom score cont with:

 


   const fontstyle=RETROPUTER

I guess that's different than how it is set in the stock score code, sho I should have mentioned it.

Yes it is, all good that fixed everything thanks for the help this is brilliant. Yeah learn something knew everyday, really cool ? Now for the hard decision of what colours i am going to choose lol ?

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Well im going to call this an official build, special thanks to Karl_G for pointing me towards the custom score kernel ?. So i have left the score colour a slightly darker blue then i had that makes it stand out more. I can't make up my mind of what colours as of yet but the code is there for whatever i choose down the track.

 

Changelog:

point display - adds some arcade-like aesthetics to the gameplay

wave counter - double digit wave counter that alternates between waves and gameover screen

 

Latest Build: City Defence 20200305.bin

 

As per usual any bugs or if you manage to break the game please let me know ?

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2 hours ago, sramirez2008 said:

Played a few more games and...wait for it...I now have a new personal HS (36,855), wave 29.

 

I think the counter and points display have added a lot of polish.?

HS_36855.jpg

 

Wave 29.jpg

Nice score! Yeah i still struggle to get that far, probably due to watching for any bugs and issues as i play. Thanks i really like how they turned out and it really adds that depth to the game. Wave counter is much needed as it shows how many buildings the player manages to save vs warheads destroyed each wave on an average. Points on-screen adds vibrancy to the repetitive nature of the game and satisfaction of destroying the enemy as some sort of reward. Im really happy with this build and thanks for testing on hardware ?

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2 hours ago, Keatah said:

I noted that when 2 missiles are close to each other and both are destroyed at the same time, the points that pop up aren't always visible, or sometimes only 1 is displayed. It's like they're xor'ed out or something. If that makes sense.

 

Yeah the easiest way to explain it is, there is one sprite, so depending on the last updated collision location the sprite will be placed there. The only difference with the sprite is the data of that score is fetched (read and write) depending what missile is hit. So essentially if i had two sprites then i could have the first missile struck remain for the period of time. If i had the resources i probably would after seeing how well this feature works, however I haven't so for what it is i think it's acceptable.

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6 hours ago, Cafeman said:

I played my first game with the most recent ROM.  (I've watched the game being played on ZPH though).  Wave 10 about 10,500 points.  At first I felt the game was too easy, but it does ramp up and keep the player on his toes!  Nice work. 

Thanks for the kind words Cafeman, yeah i have had to lower the bar during the start off period so all skill levels can get the satisfaction of completing a few levels. I also lowered the learning curve so id doesn't feel like one extreme to the next. Wave 10 is where things really start to ramp up and by round 20 it starts getting chaotic making the player feel very vulnerable. I can't speak for round 30 onwards however sramirez2008 seems to be where things get ultra and hard close to breaking point.

 

This leaves me with the old question of creating a cap and where is the tipping point of when the player has no physical chance of defending the city. It's all well and good to let the game continue increasing in difficulty although it's just becomes frustrating and not fun when it becomes impossible.

 

I can always have the option for difficulty settings (left and right) of infinite difficulty or capped and maybe another so the starting difficulty could be higher for those who want fast gameplay off the bat rather then waiting. No issues there i can just move the option to restart with reset to the BW/Color switch ?

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New build! Ok so after having a think about difficulty i have decided at such a low cost of resources i can give players 4 unique options to choose from :) For now they're controlled via the difficulty switches and corresponds to what position you start the game with. There is a capped mode so once reaching wave 25 the speed of the warheads is capped and will not increase. Then there is the advanced mode for those who want fast gameplay off the bat. You can mix these up so it starts off fast then capped of have the game run infinite vice versa. If it turns out that many like this feature, i may consider creating a GUI menu screen at the start of the game, so the player can chose these options via joystick rather then console switches.

 

Some advice from @sramirez2008 as to where you're thinking the tipping point is for adding the cap (wave), None of us others are at that level yet so im just taking a wild guess at 25 when there is no physical chance. Much appreciate your testing mate ?

 

How it works:

  • game BB: Starts slow and is capped
  • game BA: Starts slow with no cap
  • game AB: Starts fast however capped
  • game AA: Starts fast and isn't capped

 

Changelog:

  • difficulty options - for those who want variation and a real challenge or a progressively relaxed game

 

Latest Build: City Defence 20200306.bin

 

Once again as per usual any bugs, issues or feedback please don't feel shy to report them, cheers ?

 -Anthony

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20 minutes ago, Cafeman said:

What happens if you change the difficulty A B switches mid-game? 

BROKEN! thanks to cafeman lol

 

I was actually hoping someone wouldn't try/ask this, to be honest left difficulty will do nothing as the code is executed as pre-startup data and has no effect during the main gamloop or during intermissions. However the right is a different story as the code is executed during intermissions. So the result of capped or infinite can be changed during gameplay, you could call that a bug or somewhat of a cheat move. It's not cheat proof as of this moment and is where the GUI would probably be the better idea, for the cost of a variable broken into bits. I am actually impressed with your curiosity ?

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I remember you could change the difficulty A B settings in real time on games like Megamania or Kaboom and others.  You could visually see the difference -- missile were no longer guided, or buckets were now half sized.  As long as it doesn't crash your game, there's nothing wrong with either approach of setting the modes in stone at game start, or allowing the change in real time. I was just wondering and curious how your code would handle that. 

 

Another option for City Defence could be A difficulty causes the missiles to drift left or right  Yikes!

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29 minutes ago, Cafeman said:

I remember you could change the difficulty A B settings in real time on games like Megamania or Kaboom and others.  You could visually see the difference -- missile were no longer guided, or buckets were now half sized.  As long as it doesn't crash your game, there's nothing wrong with either approach of setting the modes in stone at game start, or allowing the change in real time. I was just wondering and curious how your code would handle that. 

 

Another option for City Defence could be A difficulty causes the missiles to drift left or right  Yikes!

That's all possible and i had no idea about changing difficulty switches in Megamania (one my other favorite games). The ability to change missile trajectory has been a conundrum of mine from the very start, believe it or not. However i have opted, not to, due to my problem of hoarding resources :). The question is do i tackle the player missile trajectory with what little space i have left or keep adding features.  I am really not wanting to breaking my rule of no backswitcking during the mainloop.

 

It's hard because i think the way it is isn't all that bad and adds that homing like feature/look. However some may think it needs improvement until they really jump aboard. The problems are ROM space, cycles and available resources as opposed to what players really want. From my perspective the guidance of the missiles is a small issue yet i try to keep space for when i want to tackle this issue... ?

 

Thanks for the advice and feedback it's much appreciated and helps with development ?

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15 hours ago, TwentySixHundred said:

 

Some advice from @sramirez2008 as to where you're thinking the tipping point is for adding the cap (wave), None of us others are at that level yet so im just taking a wild guess at 25 when there is no physical chance.

Yeah, I’d say 25.  I reached 29, but that was pretty hard. I’d like to see someone make it to wave 30 and break 40k.  I’ll have to try the latest ROM this weekend.

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