New Colecovision game: Space Caverns

[ScottHuggins]

Hey guys,

 

For the last year and a half, I've been porting Phoenix (the arcade game) to the Colecovision. I started this with no prior knowledge of what makes the CV tick. It's been painful, to say the least.

 

I'm almost done with Phoenix but for the last 4-5 weeks I've taken a break to try an original concept I came up with. I was wondering if you guys had some time, could you please try out (working title: Space Caverns)?

 

I'd appreciate any/all comments: is it good concept? Fun? Interesting? I tried to make it pretty fast action, sorta based on Omega Race and a little like Scramble (or Super Cobra).

 

It works with all colecovision emulators (and on the real thing), but seems to work best on MESS or MESS32. You command a little ship that starts below the "mothership". You must fly into the "caves" below and navigate through them heading towards the enemy base that holds a hostage you are trying to rescue. Various enemies will try to shoot you as you fly from cave to cave. There are exits from each cave to the next.

 

When the .rom image boots up, press '1' to play. Use the joystick to move left and right, with up being the thrust. The left controller button is fire. When you eventually make it to the enemy base that is holding the hostage, fire through the walls and recsue him, then carry him back to the mothership and enter the mothership through the bottom. From there you will get bonus points for fuel remaining. There will be 15 levels with completely different caves and enemies. Also, a bonus stage (had to have that too

 

For now, the game will stop once you rescue the hostage and return him to the mothership, or you lose all four of your lives, OR you run out of fuel before the rescue is complete.

 

I'm VERY open to any game play suggestions... I've really just begun on this... so any help with ideas you guys have will be really appreciated.

 

Thanks!

[ScottHuggins]

Darnit, the attachment didn't come through... here it is.

proto.zip

[DEBRO]

Hi Scott,

 

I just tried your game and it looks promising. I didn't get past the second screen though I'll keep playing to get a better feel for it.

 

I'd like to see the playfield scroll if you could pull it off. I think it would be a nice touch.

 

Also the movement of the ship doesn't feel right. It doesn't feel like a "thrust machanic" like Asteroids, Thrust, Omega Race, etc.

 

Rapid fire would be good too.

 

Also how about distinguishing the players shots vs. the enemy shots.

[DEBRO]

One more thing I forgot to add...you might want to spend a little more time on the main character graphics. It seems the enemies have more color and animation than the main player.

 

I remember reading that when doing games you should put as much detail to the main character as you can because this is where the player's eyes are focused most.

 

And as for rapid fire...skip it. I just played the game again and see you have rapid fire. Sorry about that. When I first played it the rapid fire didn't work

[ScottHuggins]

Debro-

 

Thanks for the comments. Scrolling (as many know) is not build into the CV's hardware. It's fairly tough to pull off... OPCODE and Daniel Bienvenu have helped me with some scrolling routines, but when you scroll that much of the playfield, it's just too many CPU cycles. I think the game would start to lag very badly. I like your idea a lot, but I'm not too sure I could pull it off.

 

>Also the movement of the ship doesn't feel right

You're the second person that's mentioned this. What do you mean exactly? The thrusting of the ship itself, or the movement (animation) of the ship? I use 16 sprite shapes for the ship. That's a lot... With work, I suppose I could get to 32 different sprite shapes for the rotation of the ship....

 

Thanks again for the comments.

[Troy_Whelan]

For the last year and a half, I've been porting Phoenix (the arcade game) to the Colecovision. I started this with no prior knowledge of what makes the CV tick.  It's been painful, to say the least.    

 

I'm almost done with Phoenix

 

When will you be finished with Phoenix? How can we get it? Do you have any screen shots you can share?

 

Troy

[AtariLeaf]

Yea I'd like to know my self. First I've heard of it and its one of my favorite games. Will it be in cart form? And yes some screenshots would be lovely.

[DEBRO]

You're the second person that's mentioned this.  What do you mean exactly?  The thrusting of the ship itself, or the movement (animation) of the ship?

The thrusting doesn't feel right.

[Paul Slocum]

Hey, the game looks great!!!!!

 

I agree about the ship. It feels too fast and there's too much friction (slows down too easily). In general the game feels too fast to me, but I'll need to play it more...

 

-paul

[opcode]

Thanks for the comments. Scrolling (as many know) is not build into the CV's hardware. It's fairly tough to pull off... OPCODE and Daniel Bienvenu have helped me with some scrolling routines' date=' but when you scroll that much of the playfield, it's just too many CPU cycles. I think the game would start to lag very badly. I like your idea a lot, but I'm not too sure I could pull it off.[/quote']

 

Probably not possible without sacrificing a lot of things.... I actualy like the one screen at a time thing.

 

Also the movement of the ship doesn't feel right

You're the second person that's mentioned this. What do you mean exactly? The thrusting of the ship itself, or the movement (animation) of the ship? I use 16 sprite shapes for the ship. That's a lot... With work, I suppose I could get to 32 different sprite shapes for the rotation of the ship....

 

You can load the sprites patterns on the fly. This way you can even save 15 pattern slots. The problem isn't the animation, but the fact that "just"

16 positions limits your aiming too much, mostly when the enemy is far.

 

Eduardo

[Godzilla]

can anyone post some pics ? I'm curious what it looks like...

[Cybergoth]

Hi there!

 

Any news on this project?

 

Greetings,

Manuel

[ScottHuggins]

Hi Manuel,

 

I finished this game earlier this year but felt it was not worth releasing. If anyone would like the finished .rom image to play on an emulator, I'll gladly send it out. PM me if interested.

 

Scott

 

 

Hi there!

 

Any news on this project?

 

Greetings,

Manuel

904951[/snapback]

[neotokeo2001]

Hi Manuel,

 

I finished this game earlier this year but felt it was not worth releasing. 

 

Scott

 

I think this game does deserve a cartridge release, It is better then most of the other Colecovision homebrews that are out there.