Season 10 ~ Weeks 18/19 ~ Hot HomeBrews

[Rogerpoco]

Ms. Galactopus-22,320

Damn you, Pat...

?

This isn't exactly "great", but then again, neither am I...

I swear, the whole "peaks and plateaus" thing-I'm mostly only playing right now on the HSC games, I usually keep myself busy with a multitude of other things/systems, but keeping up here is my main "reason" for even playing right now, and I swear I think lately I have gotten "better than I was", and can't quite put a finger on it.

 

I didn't like this game at first, is nothing personal but my Friends even likely saw it and thought "yup, Roger ain't gonna like that one...", I'm just really not good at "shooting at stuff", especially "upwards", for some reason, but it definitely "clicked", and I really started enjoying it.

 

I *believe* the scores on this can be/will get ridiculously higher than we are already, 100k stuff surely.

 

Just my advice, broken down as "layman" as possible...

 

Tho you can't allow the Babies to reach the bottom, you really should concentrate on learning to slip shots in on Ms. Galactopus, or you won't score high, period.

It's hard to get an exact bead on her, as she is pretty erratic, but you can get some idea of when she is going to release a baby, and what direction she will move in-fire a shot to the right or left of the baby, hoping she runs into it, and THEN shoot the baby(that sounds sooo bad...).

On the first few levels, the bonus doesn't seem much(I'm still only three or four attempts in, i really don't know...), but if you manage to shoot Ms. Galactopus off screen on later levels, the bonus is insane(I thought the game was broken, it just kept adding more and more score...).

 

So yeah, even tho it's explained well already, your primary objective, to score, is to learn to target Ms. Galactopus.

 

Great game, I like it when one "changes my mind".

 

 

 

Edit-

KaeruYojimbo just added the post below, strategy/knowledge-

Wow, those are awesome change-ups that definitely help make the game "complete", very, very nice!

Great Work!!!

Edited September 8, 2020 by Rogerpoco

[+KaeruYojimbo]

OK, now that you've been playing for a few days, here's a more detailed breakdown of what's going on in Ms. Galactopus.

 

In the first level, Ms. Galactopus has 15 babies and it takes 5 shots to drive her away. Each level thereafter, she starts with one additional baby and it takes one more shot to defeat her.

 

The end of level bonus is 25 x babies remaining x shield remaining. So in theory the maximum bonus for the first level is 1875 points (25 x 15 x 5), but in practice you're probably not going to get more than 1625 (25 x 13 x 5) since I don't think it's possible to clear the stage shooting fewer than 2 babies, giving you a total score of 2155 (500 points for shooting Ms. G. 5 times + 30 for shooting 2 babies + 1625). Since the number of babies increases by one each level, the maximum possible bonus does go up a little (125 points), but it also takes an extra shot to finish off Ms. Galactopus and she gets harder to hit.

 

Level breakdown:

1: Ms. Galactopus moves all the way to the edge before changing directions, drops babies at regular intervals.

2: Ms. Galactopus changes direction randomly, drops babies at random intervals.

Bonus Stage

3: Babies take 2 hits to kill.

4: Ms. Galactopus moves down if she reaches the edge of the screen 3 times without being shot.

Bonus Stage

5: Babies zig zag as they move down the screen

6: Ms. Galactopus dodges your shots

Bonus Stage

7: If you hit a baby when it is still being carried by Ms. G., it gains an extra hit point, up to a maximum of 4.

After that, Ms. Galactopus continues to start each wave closer to the bottom of the screen and the number of babies increases, but nothing else changes.

[+McCallister]

Doggone It!: 33,647

 

Ms.Galactopus: 36,840

 

[AtariWarlord]

City Defence 6,951.

[Atarian7]

Ms Galactopus : 8255

[Atarian7]

How do you play doggone it?   I can't figure out what to do.

 

Edited September 9, 2020 by Atarian7
misspelled a word

[Jason_Atari]

Ms Galactopus: 14,330

Doggone It: 36,626

City Defence: 13,970

 

 

 

 

[Alasdair Campbell (BSc.)]

15 hours ago, KaeruYojimbo said:

OK, now that you've been playing for a few days, here's a more detailed breakdown of what's going on in Ms. Galactopus.

 

In the first level, Ms. Galactopus has 15 babies and it takes 5 shots to drive her away. Each level thereafter, she starts with one additional baby and it takes one more shot to defeat her.

 

The end of level bonus is 25 x babies remaining x shield remaining. So in theory the maximum bonus for the first level is 1875 points (25 x 15 x 5), but in practice you're probably not going to get more than 1625 (25 x 13 x 5) since I don't think it's possible to clear the stage shooting fewer than 2 babies, giving you a total score of 2155 (500 points for shooting Ms. G. 5 times + 30 for shooting 2 babies + 1625). Since the number of babies increases by one each level, the maximum possible bonus does go up a little (125 points), but it also takes an extra shot to finish off Ms. Galactopus and she gets harder to hit.

 

Level breakdown:

1: Ms. Galactopus moves all the way to the edge before changing directions, drops babies at regular intervals.

2: Ms. Galactopus changes direction randomly, drops babies at random intervals.

Bonus Stage

3: Babies take 2 hits to kill.

4: Ms. Galactopus moves down if she reaches the edge of the screen 3 times without being shot.

Bonus Stage

5: Babies zig zag as they move down the screen

6: Ms. Galactopus dodges your shots

Bonus Stage

7: If you hit a baby when it is still being carried by Ms. G., it gains an extra hit point, up to a maximum of 4.

After that, Ms. Galactopus continues to start each wave closer to the bottom of the screen and the number of babies increases, but nothing else changes.

Should it be possible to get bonuses of 6-7 thousand? I was playing level 5 or 6, it took a very long time, got down to 1 shield left, killed many babies, and then my score at the end of the level when I beat her climbed from 11000 or so to 17000. Similarly, I just had this happen on maybe level 7 or 8, took forever, lost most of my shield and went straight from ~14000 to ~21000. Rogerpoco above also mentions crazy bonuses, hope this isn't a glitch. I'll try to record video of it happening if it is cause for concern. 

[Rogerpoco]

Doggone It!-42,422

It's hard to explain-can't seem to get enough of this game, lol, for the first time, I'm betting I play it "down to the wire", I'd really like to get the top score, or keep the top scorers on their toes, at least, I'm not *sure* someone can pull off a score dramatically higher than we are right now, so I'd like to hope I am "in the running" for it.

That's one thing I think I like about the game-again, it MAY go way higher, I dunno, but kinda like Espial(haha!), you can sorta tell the game intends to "shut you down" at a certain point-doable, but by the skin of your teeth.

I dunno the plans. This deserves a nice boxed release, is all I am saying.

I'd buy in, no question, to help.

 

 

[Rogerpoco]

8 hours ago, Alasdair Campbell (BSc.) said:

Should it be possible to get bonuses of 6-7 thousand? I was playing level 5 or 6, it took a very long time, got down to 1 shield left, killed many babies, and then my score at the end of the level when I beat her climbed from 11000 or so to 17000. Similarly, I just had this happen on maybe level 7 or 8, took forever, lost most of my shield and went straight from ~14000 to ~21000. Rogerpoco above also mentions crazy bonuses, hope this isn't a glitch. I'll try to record video of it happening if it is cause for concern. 

Lol, I am way too math lazy to discern exactly where I was in the game(uhh..."lazy in general", is more precise...), but mine is on vid(as always...just figure out a way. ALWAYS tape. I've spent too many days trying to replicate stuff I did "accidentally" well before I knew what I was doing...).

I bumped from 8,450 to 19,900.

Lol, it went on so long, I started cheering the score counter.

[+KaeruYojimbo]

9 hours ago, Alasdair Campbell (BSc.) said:

Should it be possible to get bonuses of 6-7 thousand? I was playing level 5 or 6, it took a very long time, got down to 1 shield left, killed many babies, and then my score at the end of the level when I beat her climbed from 11000 or so to 17000. Similarly, I just had this happen on maybe level 7 or 8, took forever, lost most of my shield and went straight from ~14000 to ~21000. Rogerpoco above also mentions crazy bonuses, hope this isn't a glitch. I'll try to record video of it happening if it is cause for concern. 

 

1 hour ago, Rogerpoco said:

Lol, I am way too math lazy to discern exactly where I was in the game(uhh..."lazy in general", is more precise...), but mine is on vid(as always...just figure out a way. ALWAYS tape. I've spent too many days trying to replicate stuff I did "accidentally" well before I knew what I was doing...).

I bumped from 8,450 to 19,900.

Lol, it went on so long, I started cheering the score counter.

 

You shouldn't be getting bonuses that high, especially if your shield is so low and you killed most of the babies.  I'll have to take a look when I have some free time and see if I can figure out what's going on.

 

Question for you guys: Did you destroy Ms. Galactopus or did the wave end because she ran out of babies?

[Rogerpoco]

1 hour ago, KaeruYojimbo said:

 

 

You shouldn't be getting bonuses that high, especially if your shield is so low and you killed most of the babies.  I'll have to take a look when I have some free time and see if I can figure out what's going on.

 

Question for you guys: Did you destroy Ms. Galactopus or did the wave end because she ran out of babies?

I destroyed Ms. Galactopus-here's the vid, if that helps!

No worries, on my end, if this is "acceptable", fine, if not I can certainly understand, tho I obviously wasn't trying to "skirt the game", whatever happened, happened.

Lol, I really was pretty happy as the score kept climbing, was trying to figure out if I had done something "special"!

 

 

 

[Skippy B. Coyote]

1 hour ago, Rogerpoco said:

I destroyed Ms. Galactopus-here's the vid, if that helps!

No worries, on my end, if this is "acceptable", fine, if not I can certainly understand, tho I obviously wasn't trying to "skirt the game", whatever happened, happened.

Lol, I really was pretty happy as the score kept climbing, was trying to figure out if I had done something "special"!

 

 

 

 

 

Wham bam what the fudge just happened!?

 

[Rogerpoco]

DogGone It!-46,607

Whew.

Gets pretty crazy as it gets faster, using the "freeze" is vital later, and you still have to time it right.

Ah. I'm trying pretty hard on this game. I just like it.

 

[Rogerpoco]

1 hour ago, Skippy B. Coyote said:

 

 

Wham bam what the fudge just happened!?

 

Jedi mind trick. I learned it from a Friend, Greg.

You just focus hard, and demand the game do what you want it to do with your mind, and it does, I just kept telling it "more points!".

Lol, kidding, I can't do that(he can...), I have no idea, but you can tell I was even raising my own eyebrows, lol!!!

[Alasdair Campbell (BSc.)]

4 hours ago, KaeruYojimbo said:

 

 

You shouldn't be getting bonuses that high, especially if your shield is so low and you killed most of the babies.  I'll have to take a look when I have some free time and see if I can figure out what's going on.

 

Question for you guys: Did you destroy Ms. Galactopus or did the wave end because she ran out of babies?

Destroyed Ms. Galactopus. rogerpoco's vid (glad he got one, I was up way too late trying to reproduce the glitch) is in line with my experience: the level is super long (in this case I see roughly 16 shots on Ms. Galactopus and 42 babies!), you lose all your shield except the last one, and then points galore. He was on level 5, it happened to me on level 6 and once on level 8 if I recall. 

Edited September 9, 2020 by Alasdair Campbell (BSc.)

[Redmiller]

Since I don’t have those three nor can I find anywhere to buy them. I posted

 

Seaweed Assault

[+TwentySixHundred]

21 hours ago, Jason_Atari said:

Ms Galactopus: 14,330

Doggone It: 36,626

City Defence: 13,970

 

 

 

 

I really should have compiled a PAL50 version so you could have played on Harmony cart with the correct colours. Sorry about that mate, nice score though ?

1 hour ago, Redmiller said:

Since I don’t have those three nor can I find anywhere to buy them. I posted

 

Seaweed Assault

Seaweed Assault is a great game, Duane really did well with that game. Just thought id let you know that the homebrews can be played on a Harmony cart as City Defence for one was never released on physical cart. You can also use the Stella emulator if you wish however that's entirely up to you ?

[+KaeruYojimbo]

I've attached a new Ms. Galactopus ROM to this post that should fix the bonus issue. I'll leave it up to @Vocelli to decide what to do about the scores already posted. Thanks to @Rogerpoco and @Alasdair Campbell (BSc.) for bringing this to my attention (the video was particularly helpful).

 

For those interested, here's what was going on. If what should have been the last baby in a stage hit the shield, the baby counter would go to 0 but the level wouldn't end. The next time a baby was shot or crashed into the shield, the counter would roll around from 0 to 255. This was a quick and dirty fix (I only had 2 bytes left to work with), but so far it's holding up.

 

Anyway, thanks again guys. Maybe we need more HSC players over in the homebrew forums to help with playtesting and really put games through the wringer.

msgalactopus-FIX1.bin

[+Armscar Coder]

I apologize for not dropping in sooner, but I usually only login to AtariAge a couple of times a week and usually just on the weekends.  If you haven’t downloaded the quick start guide in post #6, I would recommend it.  It isn’t a requirement for playing the game, but it does provide a sufficient background to the game and all of the essentials for playing.

 

For @Atarian7, the gist of the game is to grab packages from the truck by directing the delivery person Hank to touch the back of the truck (a package will appear in his hands) and then delivering them to the individuals at the bottom of the screen.  Between you and the potential recipients are obstacles and dogs (different for each level).  The dogs take the package away from Hank when they touch him.  The number on the truck depicts how many packages are left to deliver.  You need to deliver all of the packages before the truck gets to the end of the street or the game is over.  The quick start guide should help further, but it is probably easier just to watch one of the posted videos in this forum to get the idea (that will be better than me going on and on, as I do so below).

 

The scores that are being posted are impressive.  Anything above 30,000 points is a really good effort.  If there were a patch to be earned, I would think it would be in the 30,000 to 35,000 range.
My personal best is just over 53,000, but I admit you need to be a little lucky to get the right power-ups to make this happen.  I really don’t have any more tips, but I will share some of my strategies for getting a high score.  This is a little wordy and not well organized, but just how it came out of my head this early in the morning.

 

1.   First and foremost, carry over a pocketed power-up to the next level to get the 1,000 point bonus.  You want to do this for as many levels as possible, only using the stored power-up for survival to the next level.  Even making two deliveries with the double-power package active won’t make up for the loss of the 1,000 point bonus.  Delivering four packages without using the double-package power-up will yield 800 points (4 x 200 points).  Delivering the same number of packages with the double package power-up active will yield 1,000 points (2 deliveries x 500 points).  So, you are only netting 200 additional points for the same number of packages delivered.  Sure, there are more truck bonus points at the end of the level for delivering all of the necessary packages quicker, but it still isn’t enough to make-up for the loss of the 1,000 point pocket power-up carry-over bonus.

2.   When to use the double package power-up?  I usually use it at the beginning of level 1 (excluding route 1) or level 2.  The trick is to use it right before delivering a package so that you maximize the time to go back to the top of the screen and return to the bottom for the second delivery.  Starting with route 4, this becomes more challenging due to the increased dog speed, but it is still doable. But just don’t try it on level 3.  Also, be forewarned that starting with route 6, the power-up time reduces from 15 seconds to 10 seconds, so this method really isn’t possible at that point.  This strategy is best done on the first package of the level.  After making the first delivery (worth two packages) you can catch Crazy Culvert Kitty just as she comes out when returning to the truck, and have enough time to make a second delivery while the double package power-up is still active.  Then, just save the power-up you just pocketed.  You’ll get the net 200 points mentioned above in bullet point #1, the additional truck time bonus points for finishing the level quicker, as well the pocketed power-up 1,000 bonus points.  I usually avoid this strategy for level 3 (except possibly for route 1) because there is more distance to travel due to the obstacles and with Dwight moving around (in case you haven’t read the quick start guide, that’s the guy at the bottom).  There is a chance that when he moves you can collide with him unintentionally before activating the power-up or just miss him after activating the power-up, which requires more time to chase after Dwight before going back to the top of the screen.

3.   If you don’t know what power-up you have stored in the power pocket, see the icon to the left of the score at the bottom of the screen.  The quick start guide includes descriptions of the power-up icons.  If you have a power-up stored and you pet Crazy Culvert Kitty, you get another power-up active immediately, but since it is chosen at random, you won’t know what it is until it becomes active.

4.   If I get the truck pause power-up I will use it at the beginning of the next level, regardless of level or route #.  Crazy Culvert Kitty comes out of the culvert based on the truck position.  So, you want to activate it after you see her.  Otherwise, you will need to wait until the truck pause power is done before Crazy Culvert Kitty comes and that can throw the timing off.  I prefer to dump the truck pause power and always try to store a desired power-up for level 3 starting with route 3 or 4, either dog invincibility or fast feet.  If I do get the double package power-up I will try to use the strategy mentioned in bullet point #2, but I start planning for level 3 for routes 4 and above, due to its increased difficulty.

5.   You have to use the gong on level 2 in the later routes (that is the gold disc looking thing in the middle of the room).  For the earlier routes it isn’t absolutely necessary and by not using it you might be able to shave a few seconds off of the total time to finish the level and therefore increase your truck time bonus slightly.  When I have the fast feet power-up active, I usually can move fast enough to not worry about having to strike the gong, except in the later routes.

6.   When striking the gong, it is best to do it on the side where you have to deliver the package.  You should be able to make it to the respective doctor’s office before the gong sound ends.  And remember that not only do the dogs (these are therapy dogs) pause while the gong sound is active, you can walk through them without being stunned or losing a package.  But, you can only use the gong once every time you enter the waiting room.  To use the gong again, you have to go back toward the road until Hank’s feet are in the grass.  Then the gong can be struck again when you reenter the room.

7.   For later routes when I know it will take most of the truck time, I sometimes use the stored power-up before Crazy Culvert Kitty comes out the second time (except when I am saving a good power-up for level 3).  This is more of a mental game so that I can more easily deliver a few packages in the middle of the level and not need to be too frantic toward the end, as well as hopefully being in a better position to carry over the second Crazy Culvert Kitty power-up for the 1,000 point bonus.

8.  As far as my general route, for level 1 I stay to the outside when delivering the package and return up the middle when returning to the truck.  For level 2, I usually don’t worry about the gong for route 1 and sometimes route 2, but I go straight for the gong starting on route 3 (unless the fast feet power-up is active).  I will usually strike the top of the gong unless the timing is tight and then I will strike the side of the gong (see bullet point #6).  For level 3, to be successful, you have to be efficient going between the two middle fork trucks.  You can get away with staying to the outside all of the time for early routes, but you can’t do this in the later routes (not to mention you are giving up some potential truck bonus points in the earlier routes).  You have to use the power-ups wisely.  I like to have the dog invincibility or fast feed power-up stored for this level.  Most of the time, I go straight in and activate the power-up just before a dog will touch me.  Sometimes the dog will turn away at the last second and I can get away with saving the power-up for later.  I will stay to the outside when I need to deliver a package for sure, such as when it is the last one for the level and time allows.  Also, when the double package power-up is available, I will stay to the outside on the harder level 3 versions.  It is still quicker to deliver two packages for one longer path than two deliveries on a shorter path.  And then sometimes, you have to take a chance.  For level 3, I will take my chances if the dogs are on opposite sides of the screen, as I can usually dodge one of them, but this is not always guaranteed. 
 

I wish you all continued good luck (and hopefully fun) with Doggone It!.

 

- Armscar Coder

[Vocelli]

7 hours ago, KaeruYojimbo said:

I've attached a new Ms. Galactopus ROM to this post that should fix the bonus issue. I'll leave it up to @Vocelli to decide what to do about the scores already posted. Thanks to @Rogerpoco and @Alasdair Campbell (BSc.) for bringing this to my attention (the video was particularly helpful).

 

For those interested, here's what was going on. If what should have been the last baby in a stage hit the shield, the baby counter would go to 0 but the level wouldn't end. The next time a baby was shot or crashed into the shield, the counter would roll around from 0 to 255. This was a quick and dirty fix (I only had 2 bytes left to work with), but so far it's holding up.

 

Anyway, thanks again guys. Maybe we need more HSC players over in the homebrew forums to help with playtesting and really put games through the wringer.

msgalactopus-FIX1.bin 4 kB · 2 downloads

Is this glitch on every level?

If it is on every level then we will have to disqualify the scores with the glitch.

 

If it is only on higher levels.... we can keep the scores. (Since we are playing for lower overall points during the homebrew weeks.)

[Atarian7]

Thanks Armscar.  I figured it out yesterday before reading your post.  Well, I figured out what to do, but I didn't know what I was actually doing.  LOL

Thanks for all the tips too.

[Rogerpoco]

City Defense-12,826

Getting a little better on this one, it kinda grows on you, isn't bad at all.

My contrast kept going out, I really couldn't see the spots I was "defending" well, but I managed to keep my cannon alive during the "darkouts".

(Is a problem w/ my tv, not the game).

 

 

[oyamafamily]

Ms. Galactopus (new ROM / fixed)  13,605

(just in case of disqualifying all scores by bonus issue)

[+KaeruYojimbo]

2 hours ago, Vocelli said:

Is this glitch on every level?

If it is on every level then we will have to disqualify the scores with the glitch.

 

If it is only on higher levels.... we can keep the scores. (Since we are playing for lower overall points during the homebrew weeks.)

It's in every level. It's just a lot more likely to get triggered in later levels because more babies are getting through, making it more likely that the one baby that will trigger it in that level will get through.

 

Once you know how it works, you can exploit the crap out of it. I was able to pretty consistently get 20K+ bonuses.