Seawolf Public Beta Test

[+Nathan Strum]

BTW: Does anyone know the frequency of a "classic" sonar ping? And/Or the ADSR curve of it?

 

Well, after some searching, it's 1 kHz. (See the paragraph just below figure 6 on that page.) The trick to making it sound authentic would be the trail-off, or adding a return echo.

 

Maybe the sound could be tied to either 1) approaching depth-charge dropping destroyers or 2) approaching refueling/rearming targets/vessels. (Incidentally, I just remembered that Tigervision's Polaris has the "ping" in it, and it runs throughout the game.)

 

As for ambient "sea" noise, RealSports Volleyball has a decent sound, although it's more suited to a shoreline, than deep sea.

 

I also like the idea of just adding to the fuel and torpedoes incrementally, rather than getting an instant full load, in case you're keeping track.

[birdie3]

Nice game!!

 

Please forgive me if my suggestions are not possible due to the programming limitations of the VCS. I am not a programmer.

 

I think that this excellent game could be tweaked in a few places. The main reason I feel this way is because I notice that there is lots of work involved with playing this game but little reward. Most games that are like this have some kind of reward that makes a player strive to get further and further.

 

Balance (between the effort involved in reaching a certain stage with the reward for your accomplishment) is what I think should be changed. I personally like games where I must progress through increasing levels of difficulty. I did notice the game speeds up and the difficulty does increase. Levels with some sort of "level XX completed" graphics or messages like "Skipper, Captain, Admiral" as levels progress etc.. would be more rewarding.

 

With this concept implimented, the opportubity to alter the dynamics of each level arrises as well. Say for example after level three, the ships could start firing torpedos at you or after each level you could develop new methods for destroying ships like: level 1-torpedos, level 2-missles, level 3-bombs etc..

 

Let me know if you want any more ideas.

[Tsukasa]

Ummm..... I think that the goal was to make it as similar to the arcade version as possible with the 2600's capabilties....

[birdie3]

Oh. I did not know that. I guess I am a poseur.

 

http://klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=&game_id=9459

 

Thanks for the heads up.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

That's the part of the idea I liked, so I left it out in the quote

Cool, so you liked everything you left out in your quote, right?

[Cybergoth]

Hi there!

 

Ummm..... I think that the goal was to make it as similar to the arcade version as possible with the 2600's capabilties....

 

Well, this is an interesting point. In my personal philosophy the ultimate goal in my conversions is not 1:1 conversion. Someone wanting a 1:1 conversion of Gun Fight, Star Fire or Sea Wolf can fire up MAME any time.

 

I more or less try to capture the "spirit" of the original and transfer it to the VCS. When I discover spots where I can add to gameplay or possibly improve it a little, I'll go for it. Still I try to be faithfull and have enough of the original "shine through".

 

To justify all the work going into such a project, I also try hard to make it "best of genre", so I play all clones, ports and similar themed games and try to analyze what I like in them and see wether things can be adopted into my interpretation of this kind of game.

 

Greetings,

Manuel

[Cybergoth]

Hi there

 

That's the part of the idea I liked, so I left it out in the quote

Cool, so you liked everything you left out in your quote, right?

 

This, like everything else that has been suggested, is filed under "serious consideration".

 

Generally I must say that I'm down to less than a page of free memory by now, so I'm somewhat limited regarding adding "cool stuff", so it'll more likely be some of the "smaller"(#1) tweaks that'll make it into the final version.

 

Greetings,

Manuel

 

#1: I mean "smaller memory consume" and not "smaller impact".

[Thomas Jentzsch]

#1: I mean "smaller memory consume" and not "smaller impact".

I know what you are talking about.

[Cybergoth]

Hi there!

 

As for ambient "sea" noise, RealSports Volleyball has a decent sound, although it's more suited to a shoreline, than deep sea.

 

What about the background noise in Star Ship?

 

Greetings,

Manuel

[+Nathan Strum]

What about the background noise in Star Ship?

 

It sounds like a small motorboat engine to me. It'd work well for the small, fast boat. (I'm sure I've heard that sound used in a car game, somewhere.)

 

I pulled some samples from our sound effects library at work. I don't think that the 2600 can reproduce some of them, but maybe something here will be of use:

 

Waves.mp3 - Waves breaking on shore

Waves2.mp3 - Waves from underwater

Waves3.mp3 - Waves breaking across bow of moving ship

Blast.mp3 - Explosion in water

Babbling.mp3 - Babbling brook

Ambient.mp3 - Ambient sound from inside a ship

[+Nathan Strum]

I had another idea, regarding gameplay (which I actually thought of awhile ago).

 

A two-player head-to-head mode. Sort of like Seawolf II (or Air-Sea Battle), but instead of both players shooting at all targets, they have to shoot only the other player's ships. (This would mean color-coding them.) Hitting your own ships would decrease your score and/or fuel. Hitting their ships decreases their score/fuel. Highest score at the end of the game wins.

 

Of course this is probably too much to add at this point. But I thought I'd bring it up anyway.

[NovaXpress]

I've put a few hours into this game so here's my half-assed review:

 

I once said it was almost a shame to call Manuel's previous game "Star Fire" because he turned it into something much better than the original. The old 70s classic was little more than a raw, repetitive play mechanic (which we were thrilled with back then) which quickly went out of style. 2600 Star Fire took that basic gameplay and built on it using the design skills and game psychology which had been developed since the arcade version was created. Instead of a silly little space diversion, we got a game which caused me to hit the reset button again and again.

 

I was never into the submarine games, to slow for me. the original Seawolf never did anything for me. But this new version is the kind of game which could have launched a company. Seawolf's jump from arcade to home is as big as Pac-Man's, only in the opposite direction.

 

The rules seem odd at first, but they actually help keep the rhythm of the game. I've grown to like the 1000 point bonus thing (I call it the magic jellyfish) because it's like a fencepost to mark your progress. I would prefer to have the jellyfish add to the total rather than replace it. That would be a reward for sharp players.

 

There's a nice variety of enemies and they look great. We start out with the tankers, which are low-scoring lumps as they should be. There's a submarine which quickly dives out of range (great animation) and a small purple speedboat (drug runners???). The green carrier is a nice target, you have to judge not only if you can hit it but hit it enough times before it leaves the screen. Usually it requires two hits, but sometimes three. Is this a bug? The hospital ships are a great addition. They were just annoying until the first time I bounced a shot off one and into an enemy. Nice dynamic. The last enemy I saw was the destroyer, which finally fires back on your ass.

 

Once the destroyers come out to play, this game really kicks into gear. It has all the best features of a 2600 game: it requires quick reflexes, an eye for basic strategy, and causes the pulse to race a whole lot faster. Those who haven't played to the higher levels have not gotten the whole experience.

 

The only thing that needs to be changed is the difficulty. I love this game at the high levels, but when I have to re-start I get bored as I chew up those first 6000 points. I'd love a variation where I could take them all on from the start. I would play such a game a lot more because I can get right to the good stuff. At the low levels, this is a pretty Air-Sea battle. Once all the enemies come out it's the action game of the year.

[Cybergoth]

Hi there!

 

What about the background noise in Star Ship?

It sounds like a small motorboat engine to me. It'd work well for the small, fast boat. (I'm sure I've heard that sound used in a car game, somewhere.)

 

No, no, not the lawnmover emulation. I meant those other random "space bleeps"

 

I pulled some samples from our sound effects library at work. I don't think that the 2600 can reproduce some of them, but maybe something here will be of use

 

Just started the downloads. Thanks!

 

Greetings,

Manuel

[Tsukasa]

....Someone wanting a 1:1 conversion of Gun Fight, Star Fire or Sea Wolf can fire up MAME any time....

 

But when using MAME, you lose some of that nostalgic feeling, I prefer sitting on my ass in front of the TV with a wrist-breaking joystick over sitting at my computer with a keyboard.

[Xot]

....Someone wanting a 1:1 conversion of Gun Fight, Star Fire or Sea Wolf can fire up MAME any time....

 

But when using MAME, you lose some of that nostalgic feeling, I prefer sitting on my ass in front of the TV with a wrist-breaking joystick over sitting at my computer with a keyboard.

 

One word: Stelladaptor.

[+Nathan Strum]

No, no, not the lawnmover emulation. I meant those other random "space bleeps"

 

Ah... I see what you mean now.

 

Yeah, something along those lines would work. Maybe lower in pitch. And with an echo effect.

 

(Although... a lawnmower game might be kind of cool, too.)

[Tsukasa]

....Someone wanting a 1:1 conversion of Gun Fight, Star Fire or Sea Wolf can fire up MAME any time....

 

But when using MAME, you lose some of that nostalgic feeling, I prefer sitting on my ass in front of the TV with a wrist-breaking joystick over sitting at my computer with a keyboard.

 

One word: Stelladaptor.

 

Even with a stelladaptor, it's still not the same as playing it on the original hardware. Besides, emulators aren't perfect.

[Bad Panda Bear]

I've been seeing something strange when playing seawolf with a supercharger.

 

When I play the binary in z26 it seems fine, there 3 rows of ships to shoot at and refueling starts with one refueling container at 1000 pts.

 

When I convert to a WAV and play on supercharger, I get only one row of ships. I invariably die once before reaching 1000 pts, and when I do reach 1000 pts I start to see multiple refueling containers, that never go away. It's as if the mines start turning into refueling containers. This makes the game rather easy at that point. This was on a NTSC Vader and an NTSC sears heavy sixer.

 

But when I play the binary on a CC2, it works like it does in z26.

 

So I started to think that I was doing something stupid, like using an old version of the binary to make the WAV file with. But I re-converted and double checked and I still had the same problem. I also tried changing the volume I use when playing the WAV but it didn't help.

 

So has anyone else seen this?

[Cybergoth]

Hi there!

 

I've put a few hours into this game so here's my half-assed review:

 

Uihja, almost missed that. Seems like I was posting something myself at the same time...

 

Cool, first time I got a review even before the cartridges are available

 

a small purple speedboat (drug runners???)

 

I think it's refered to as PT-Boat.

 

Usually it requires two hits, but sometimes three.  Is this a bug?

 

No. I'm misusing the ships speed as life-meter, so faster carriers need more hits.

 

Once all the enemies come out it's the action game of the year.

 

Thanks for this storming review, but don't forget to check out the "Fade Out" demo as well!

 

Greetings,

Manuel

[Cybergoth]

Hi there!

 

Even with a stelladaptor, it's still not the same as playing it on the original hardware. Besides, emulators aren't perfect.

 

Well, if nothing else helps, you can always go and buy the real arcade

 

Greetings,

Manuel

[Cybergoth]

Hi there!

 

So has anyone else seen this?

 

I think Thomas tried it on a supercharger lately, but he didn't report anything like that. (I just checked, I'm not occupying the supercharger vector $FFF8/9)

 

Say, are just the ships gone, or the complete lines?

 

Greetings,

Manuel

[StanJr]

This is an excellent game. Excellent. Great action, great challenge and all around addictive and fun. The graphics are well crafted and the sound is high quality as well.

 

If I have one gripe, its the same as all of the others, the game starts out too easy and ramps too slowly. I think you can start it out easy, but it needs to get tougher much faster. I was just sitting back picking off targets for the first 5K without any real challenge, it wasn't until the hospital ships and the much faster destroyers began to appear that I felt challenged. Which is fine, if it didn't take so long to get to that point.

 

Otherwise, this is a spectacular game! Well done.

[Bivotar]

I put some more time in to this last night. Actually, I was looking forward to playing it all day! After I finally got the kid to bed and some chores done I could finally sit down and enjoy it. That's the sign of a good game to me!

 

The thing I keep coming back to is it would be nice if there was some kind of reward or progress indicator. It would make sense to time this with the 1000 point marks. Perhaps something like somebody else suggested like a ranking, or even a simple LEVEL xx. The downside to this would be that it would break up the gameplay somewhat.

 

Just curious, what kind of scores are people getting? I've broken in to the 8000 range.

[NovaXpress]

My top was 18,950. So close to another jellyfish.

[ATARI TROLL]

@Thomas

 

Thanks for the reply...I may try MESS and see if it will work (unfortunately there isn't enough mac updates out there for what appears to be an awesome beta here).

 

Cheers Thomas

 

PS pickedup a copy of JAMMED (favorite homebrew game)