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so what’s a SciFi-themed “death”-symbolizm?
Hmm, hard to say. Personally, I much like in-game explosion with parts flying around. Phoenix is a good example:
But before changing anything you should better wait for other opinions and voices.
@ Chris:
Yes!! : an Impressive work for an impressive game on the Vectrex!
I agree with Helmut about the “Game Over” sequence: it is really nice but i imagine it of with another kind of games with ghosts, spirits ….
i would suggest 2 things:
– “An alert” for the last ship.
– Game Over sequence: A trembling and a dislocation of the ship followed by a big explosion
– “An alert” for the last ship.
It might be a good idea to display the number of remaining ships whenever the player looses a ship. (I know that button 3 opens the status screen which contains this info).
Me too 👍🏻: we will have the time to test it intensely and bring our last ideas/suggestions for the final touch
Click images.
Just played around with the story board… those are just “sketches”…
a) a “normal” round with “ships” left
b) a round where no ship is left -> game over
Nice ideas! 😊
About the explosion of the ship: i think that just the explosion (without a zoom) is perfect. Then you can directly compose the words “Game Over” with the points
Somehow I can’t bring myself to concentrated programming.
I’ll try to add the achievements this week… but that will probably be all… before my work holiday
For the next beta – you’ll be stuck with the candle :-)- perhaps it will grow on you after all. If not I think I think (unless serious VETO) I’ll go the “particle” route as in last example above.
Gee – I also still have to do my taxes … end of May fast…
Vectorblade_B56.bin – 29th Mai 2020
and VecFever version:
Vectorblade_B56.V4E – 29th Mai 2020Despite my last positing I programmed a lot on this one – and fixed a couple of bugs.
It still has the candle death sequence and no beta tester honors. That must wait till after my holiday.Nonetheless the “big” bugfix, which probably caused the crash is “in it”. I played a couple of hundred levels and all seemed ok. But (fingers crossed) – one never knows.
Additions and bugfixes I can remember since the last “playable” binary:
Saving
1) Save game in progress
In pause mode press “up” to the disk and follow instructions2) Load saved game
go to the “settings menu” and press “down” to the disk and follow instructionsSave game should work on VecFever and on the Flash version!
Minestorm
Minestorm reward is now based on the speed that you can manage:Snail, 1000 points, 100 cash
Turtle, 2000 points, 200 cash
Boring, 5000 points, 500 cash
Rabbit, 50000 points, 1000 cash
Falcon, 100000 points, 5000 cashThe achievement reward for “greedy” is now +1 weapon type.
You get also an achievement for Minestorm Falcon – also +1 weapon type.
So you are able to start with a tripple shot!
Drunken
I implemented the mentioned drunken “bonus”. If you catch that the steering is reversed for a couple of seconds.
(below the fighter a tiny “timing” marker appears)Entering minestorm – as usual – does not reduce time of bonuses. Finishing a Minestorm while “drunken” – you get an achievement “drunken storm”. This achievement enables bonus drops in game of “tripple shots”.
For all of the above…
Texts, sound, voices, achievements, help texts, pause status… etc have been implemented (doesn’t sound like much – but codewise these were many, many changes – small though, but fiddle sticks)Difficulty
In shop the “lock” and “power” cash requirements have been deeply raised!
For “non easy” (as mentioned befor) the gameplay variety has increased.
Depending on the difficulty aliens can now attack directly from their entry moves – they do not have to reside at their waiting position.
Also all bosses change slightly with increased difficulty. The most obvious changes are:
– boss 1
“Swarm” members protecting the queen – can now also swoop at the player
– boss 2
“Sinistar” has now different movement patterns per difficulty – this really freaks me out! 🙂Wishlists
– I implemented Helmut’s latest wishlist, as their are:
– “deny” sound in shop
– switch the “sign” of “S” and “B” – although I do not really find that better 🙂
– fireworks rockets are a bit brighter
– Major Havoc has slightly increased walking distance
(not done “yet?” – displaying the number of lives left)Other bugs
– minestorm does not finish when collision close to the end
– using higher scale than 127 – caused lasers (player, scoopy and boss 3) to be displayed buggyOther not seen changes
Code for the “wheel” is now for both VecFever and Flash in the same bank und thus “unified”.
Both circle coordinates for the “black hole” and the “wheel” have been shortened by 512 bytes. Somehow it escaped me, that a modulo of 512 of register “D” can easily be achieved by a simple “ANDA #%00000001”.The code for the “test all aliens with shots” has been completely removed (this was the code that caused the crash).
I could not find a way to keep the better collision detection for “small” aliens – and also do sensible collision detection for bugs and big enemies. Hope thus works out nonetheless.
I tested this version quite extensively. But there still might be bugs left.
I will not be able to fix anything before about the midst of June. I hope you are all well.
If you have time and it is still fun to you – you are heartily invited to play a round of Vectorblade :-).
@Jerome:
I have not received anything via snail mail yet – so you will not get the replacement cartridge “soonish” – sorry.As a matter of more “open” communication – I might do another redundant blog entry… depending on my mood.
Thank you all for your patience and persistence with Vectorblade. The end draws near!Regards
Chris
Thank you for the many changes and bug fixes in Beta 56, Chris. Especially thank you for considering my small suggestions. I’ve just downloaded the new version and will try it out later on.
Some feedback on the animations:
“Game over” sequence:
I like the explosion with lots of debris. Some larger particles or particles of different size might look cool. I agree with Jermoe: Currently, there is too much zooming in and zooming out in the “Game over” sequence. I think it would be sufficient to zoom in (make larger) the ship and then show the explosion. After that the “GAME OVER” might fade in in the middle of the screen.Beta tester ceremony
Sure enough the beta tester ceremony shows your appreciation of our work – which is much appreciated. But I think it’s a bit over the top. A section “Tester” with the names of all beta testers in the scrolling window would be sufficient, I think. Also, it would be unfair to VTK who did the excellent music. Or will he get a music magician ceremony? 😉Chris, again thank you for your excellent effort. Please enjoy your holidays at the Baltic sea. In this difficult Corona time it’s even more important to get a change. I wish you and your partner nice and relaxing holidays!
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