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City Defence (WIP)


TwentySixHundred

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City Defence

You're at control of the maingun to lock-on incoming targets and defend your capital. Warheads are raining in and the citizens are depending on you to save the city. Aim your targets, lock and fire at strategic locations to fend off the incoming ICBM's otherwise the city will be leveled to rubble. Make sure you protect as much of the city as you can, otherwise once it's lost, you have failed commander.

 

If you're maingun takes a hit your city is helpless and make sure to protect that vital powerstation! If you lose this building your targeting systems will only run at 50% capacity. You will then need to wait till the end of the season whilst your citizens restore the powerstation. Good luck!

 

Controls:

  • Directional - moves targeting system
  • Joyfire - locks the targeted area
  • BW/Color - when set to BW position this disables joyfire to restart game

 

Difficulty Settings:

  • Easy - Warhead starting speed is slow and capped after level 25
  • Normal - Warhead starting speed is slow and there is no cap after level 25
  • Hard - Warhead starting speed is fast and is capped after level 25
  • Expert - Warhead starting speed is fast and there is no cap after level 25

 

Scoring:

  • single story + 10 points at end of round
  • two story + 20 points at end of round
  • three story + 30 points at end of round
  • four story + 40 points at end of round
  • five story + 50 points at end of round
  • six story + 60 points at end of round
  • total + 730 points at end of round
  • slow warhead + 20 points each shot
  • medium warhead + 40 points each shot
  • fast warhead + 60 points each shot
  • loss of maingun - 200 points
  • loss of powerstation - 100 points

 

Format:

  • NTSC

 

1627664954_CityDefence20200331.thumb.png.79624fa46f987fcd85e94567a3f008f7.png

 

270786671_CityDefence20200331_1.thumb.png.01a0f1670d427c7168fc0fef7ab15253.png

 

1945915437_CityDefence20200331_2.thumb.png.e5eb8a19cff73864862284ab407d18ae.png

 

Latest Build With Alternative Music Tone (recommended):

City Defence 2.4.bin

 

Latest Build:

City Defence 20200331.bin

 

Older Builds:

All removed and archived - if anyone wants an older build feel free to PM me

Edited by TwentySixHundred
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Latest build: Missile Defender 20200210.bin Updated binary in the first post aswell

 

Changelog:

  • titlescreen
  • simple eerie music

So now that the title screen and music has a theme about it, i think the next step is to change the setting from day to night. The colouring needs to be much more like the original i think will be fitting. Anyway here is a screenshot

 

1442419250_MissileDefender20200210.thumb.png.a00b880d7c1c009b1e6b538f96915873.png

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Ok so i have played around with the colours of the main game a bit and think it looks much nicer and fitting to the titlescreen. Which is good because i can start to concentrate on the gameplay more and make tweaks as i go.

 

Latest build: Missile Defender 20200210-a.bin Updated binary in the first post aswell

 

Changelog:

  • colours

1681115547_MissileDefender20200210-a_2.thumb.png.3b943cdf406f517ce93edb9144169936.png

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37 minutes ago, easmith said:

graphics on this really look nice .

 

I know you are just starting on gameplay, but it starts out pretty hard !   

 

 

Thanks for the feedback! I was actually going to make it get harder from here on. It's hard to tell because im always testing after each build and get used to the difficulty. I might tone it down for the first couple of levels when i make a start on gameplay. At this moment i have been playing around with sound effects (my weak area). However i need to work on the gameplay to atleast add some sort of a level system. ?

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Soon im going to look into adding some gameplay, as in levels or whatever else im feeling at the time.

 

Latest build: Missile Defender 20200210-b.bin Updated binary in the first post aswell

 

Changelog:

  • bug fix when returning to titlescreen from the gameover screen
  • changes to sound effects
  • scoring changes - now the reward is less
Edited by TwentySixHundred
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36 minutes ago, TwentySixHundred said:

It's hard to tell because im always testing after each build and get used to the difficulty.

That's a common problem when developing homebrew games. Due to extensive testing, you get good at it, and think it's easier than it really is to someone just trying out your game for the first time.

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9 hours ago, Karl G said:

That's a common problem when developing homebrew games. Due to extensive testing, you get good at it, and think it's easier than it really is to someone just trying out your game for the first time.

Yeah i seem to be having that same issue with Street Rod, it's just far too hard off the bat (knocked it back in a recent build). Guess it's something to keep in mind. if it's too hard people will be discouraged to play again. Gotta bring them up a few times before laying the pressure on ?

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Great start! The title screen is nice and the in game controls and graphics are really good. I love the number of sheer buildings you have to defend.

I found the game incredibly difficult starting out because there's two ways to die, either by direct hit on your defense system or falling below zero points. When you start with zero points, ANY direct hit to ANY building will result in game over, and there's a LOT of city exposure at the beginning. I died a lot of times without having hit one incoming missile for a number of games before getting the hang of it.

 

Once I surpassed a certain score, about 500 points, it became incredibly easy as I was very very safe because there was hardly any city left to reduce my score and very few bombs were aimed at my few remaining buildings. I took the screenshot below after I was pretty much able to play forever, no amount of building bombing could get me to 0 points and I could easily fend off any direct attack to my missile launcher by keeping it in the center and holding down the fire button.

 

The game seems to start off at full speed, which is incredibly challenging. After you've hit about the 500 points mark the game gets easier and easier, there's less targets for the enemy to hit.

I would recommend starting the game with less frequent missiles but as time goes on, increase the frequency of missiles. Also increase the accuracy of the aim of the enemy for the remaining buildings. Any missiles not aimed at a building isn't really worth worrying about as it can't harm you via points or destruction.

 

Looking forward to this as the game balancing gets tighter!!

 

- James

 

image.thumb.png.522cc8a577e8cef035ff1d1c28992ee4.png

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2 hours ago, ZeroPage Homebrew said:

Great start! The title screen is nice and the in game controls and graphics are really good. I love the number of sheer buildings you have to defend.

I found the game incredibly difficult starting out because there's two ways to die, either by direct hit on your defense system or falling below zero points. When you start with zero points, ANY direct hit to ANY building will result in game over, and there's a LOT of city exposure at the beginning. I died a lot of times without having hit one incoming missile for a number of games before getting the hang of it.

 

Once I surpassed a certain score, about 500 points, it became incredibly easy as I was very very safe because there was hardly any city left to reduce my score and very few bombs were aimed at my few remaining buildings. I took the screenshot below after I was pretty much able to play forever, no amount of building bombing could get me to 0 points and I could easily fend off any direct attack to my missile launcher by keeping it in the center and holding down the fire button.

 

The game seems to start off at full speed, which is incredibly challenging. After you've hit about the 500 points mark the game gets easier and easier, there's less targets for the enemy to hit.

I would recommend starting the game with less frequent missiles but as time goes on, increase the frequency of missiles. Also increase the accuracy of the aim of the enemy for the remaining buildings. Any missiles not aimed at a building isn't really worth worrying about as it can't harm you via points or destruction.

 

Looking forward to this as the game balancing gets tighter!!

 

- James

Thanks for the feedback James! Yes that's right on point with what i was thinking as for the difficulty. As of the moment you really only need to take out the first two or three missiles. After that if one slips by, like you said it gets easier and easier to keep afloat. Whilst i was working on the mechanics it was fine for testing. Now those mechanics are becoming refined the balance really needs some attention.

 

So i have a couple of ideas however unsure at this moment which direction to head. Both seem good although i don't want to start one then change my mind. Reason being once if i go one direction i will structure the programs flow to cater that design. If i were to go the other mid way through, then it would take alot rewriting and shifting around of code ect.

 

The ideas i have

1) Have intermissions in between levels, pretty much like the original was. Where once you complete a level the remaining buildings are calculated/read for bonus points. Once the next wave begins you will have a new city to defend and difficulty slightly ramps up and so on. Each wave could have different terrain colours ie: grassland - desert - snow ect. This will eliminate the issue of those pesky remaining building that have the lower chance of getting hit. Also saves the need of costly code that would be needed to seek which buildings are remaining. Because the buildings are playfield they would be harder to track whats remaining over player objects/sprites.

 

2) To have a progressive single screen that over time the city gets rebuilt (after an x amount of points or whatever). << I actually quite like this idea and would love to implement it either way. In junction with the city skyline rebuilding it self much like the town working together to repair their city, the difficulty would ramp up over time. Only problem i find with this method, is variety, as it would be the one city that you're defending and could become stagnant.

 

3) Thought i would add this as a third option is to merge parts of idea one and two. So reverting back to the first idea, rather then calculating the remaining buildings, it could stay the same half destructed city on the next wave. That way as you continue increasing in score have the city repair itself whilst each wave become increasingly more difficult.

 

Now the hard part is working out what method i'm going for and setting it in stone. The more i'm thinking about it the third idea is really tickling my fancy ?. The only part i don't like about it, is having to omit the change of terrain, which i also think is a really neat idea. It just adds that variance and if i was to have different terrains, it wouldn't make sense that the city stays the same. Unless i was able to have it change seasons through-out the year but then day night cycles would probably be needed ?

 

 -Anthony

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I quite like waves, and your idea #3 would definitely put a different twist on the game. I think you could still have different terrains, and maybe have just one building repaired between waves to reflect the passage of time (enough time for a season change or whatnot).

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21 minutes ago, Karl G said:

I quite like waves, and your idea #3 would definitely put a different twist on the game. I think you could still have different terrains, and maybe have just one building repaired between waves to reflect the passage of time (enough time for a season change or whatnot).

Really leaning towards the third idea aswell, like you said i feel it's kind of an unique spin on the original game to make it's own concept. I really like the idea of having a building or two repaired between waves/seasons to signify the passage of time.

 

TBH I was a bit apprehensive about making a remake of such a classic game like missile command. It really sets the bar high when walking in the foot steps of a classic game of that magnitude. If it's a blatant copy people are going to throw their noses up at it, so if it doesn't deliver it will be nothing other then a flop.

14 minutes ago, Karl G said:

Also, I want to suggest the possible name of "City Defender".

Come to think it City Defender does sound fitting to the game, it makes it somewhat of it's own. Especially if going the route with the city repairing itself. I may have to take you up on that offer, thanks ?

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Ok so some progress on the gameplay, the game now has waves and progressively gets faster. Still haven't changed the name yet or worked on the rebuilding feature as of yet. If anyone can let me know if the starting difficulty is still too hard, that would be much appreciated. Cheers ?

 

Latest build: Missile Defender 20200212.bin Updated binary in the first post aswell

 

Changelog:

  • waves - levels - intermissions
  • small sound effects added
  • balancing
  • some code cleanup
  • slight changes with random warhead x positioning spawn points - still needs work
  • probably something else i'm forgetting about
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11 hours ago, TwentySixHundred said:

Ok so some progress on the gameplay, the game now has waves and progressively gets faster. Still haven't changed the name yet or worked on the rebuilding feature as of yet. If anyone can let me know if the starting difficulty is still too hard, that would be much appreciated. Cheers ?

 

Latest build: Missile Defender 20200212.bin Updated binary in the first post aswell

 

Changelog:

  • waves - levels - intermissions
  • small sound effects added
  • balancing
  • some code cleanup
  • slight changes with random warhead x positioning spawn points - still needs work
  • probably something else i'm forgetting about

Just tried this on actual hardware and...

  • The ROM doesn't work with my UnoCart
  • The ROM does work with my Harmony Encore

I played a couple of games with the Harmony, and after a few missiles struck the city, the game crashed.  Has anyone else experienced this? Don't know if anyone else has tried playing on actual hardware or if everyone is playing via emulation.

 

I'll try to play more this evening to see if I can get past the first wave, as sometimes the game crashed as soon as the first missile struck the city. Btw, I like the game and really like the title screen.?

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5 hours ago, sramirez2008 said:

Just tried this on actual hardware and...

  • The ROM doesn't work with my UnoCart
  • The ROM does work with my Harmony Encore

I played a couple of games with the Harmony, and after a few missiles struck the city, the game crashed.  Has anyone else experienced this? Don't know if anyone else has tried playing on actual hardware or if everyone is playing via emulation.

 

I'll try to play more this evening to see if I can get past the first wave, as sometimes the game crashed as soon as the first missile struck the city. Btw, I like the game and really like the title screen.?

 

4 hours ago, Karl G said:

Since this is a DPC+ game, there's no change of it working on the Unocart. I also got a crash in Stella:

 

 

Screen Shot 2020-02-12 at 4.35.08 PM.png

Interesting that you both got this crash and looks to be ARM related AFAIK. I have no idea what the fatal error displayed is actually pointing to. However it's strange as @sramirez2008 said it happened after a couple of buildings got hit then the crashed. It's fairly standard code for collision detection and there is nothing like bank switching happening either ect. I was going to suggest it maybe a bug in Stella although sramirez it happened on harmony right? ?

 

I have been testing the game a fair bit lately and it hasn't crashed as of yet. I will have a look through the code tonight when i get home and see if there is anything that could conflict. I haven't changed anything with the warhead collisions but something else could be causing it to break.

 

If anyone knows and can let me know what this error is pointing to that would be very much appreciated ?

Edited by TwentySixHundred
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I have no idea how to debug it with the problem being in ARM code. I think you are not seeing it in Stella because you don't have developer settings enabled. When I switched to player settings, it didn't happen for me. Developer settings are showing some underlying problem which @sramirez2008 was able to reproduce on hardware. Try it with developer settings enabled in Stella or on hardware, and I think you will see the issue yourself.

 

I'd be willing to at least try to see if I can find a cause if you would be willing to send me your source.

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As it's throwing a read16 error it could be something to do with that i added a fixed point variable for the enemy warhead speeds. I am not 100% sure if that is anything to do with it or a bB DPC+ bug or simply my code conflicting. I will try to replicate it again and hopefully i can trigger the crash. If not i will still check the code and might post the error in bB bugs thread to see if it's on my end or i have managed to expose a bug within batari basic

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Ok i have isolated all the problem areas of code one by one. Turns out it's this

pfcordx = (player7x/4) - 4

I have no idea why it works in player mode flawlessly yet has issues in developer mode and harmony. Soon as i commented out these lines, and there is a few, the game will play through the waves without crashing...

Edited by TwentySixHundred
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I sorted it out

(player2x/4)-4 to (player2x-15)/4

Then set the game to "god" mode and let it run through the waves till i annihilated the whole city without a problem. Then set the game to normal and had a few games without any crashes, so i think it's nailed for the moment ?.

 

If any of you guys can run it on hardware that would be much appreciated as i haven't got real hardware (regrettably sold it a few years ago) yeah i know. ?

 

Changelog:

  • bug - collision detection (pfpixel math) causing game to crash on Stella dev mode and harmony

Latest Build: Missile Defender 20200213.bin

Edited by TwentySixHundred
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I'll give it a try and get back to you.?

 

<EDIT> Played a few games using build 20200213 and did not experience a crash.  I made to the 5th (level, wave?) on one game, and scored ~4,700. Didn’t get that screenshot, but I made it to the 4th wave and that’s below.

04466979-A8FF-4405-84FC-D7C010BE48A4.jpeg

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