vtk testing notes / findings / suggestions etc

[Malban]

Short question, you played vectorblade now for over a week, every day a few hours – or so I estimate.
The farthest you have gotten so far is level 75 (boss 3).

Is “easy” still to difficult?

[Malban]

Just a quick note on the demo…

The only thing “demo” about it is, that movement is random, everything else is “in game” available, like:
– autofire
– scoopies
– four shot
– shield (for 150 seconds (thats the timer for the DEMO also) – for later levels push the timer!!!)
– scoopy shield (invincible! – notice, they flicker)
– scoopies keeping over WARP (a secret you can earn)

[vtk]

Is “easy” still to difficult?

i think everyone’s opinion could vary a lot here and it will be interesting to see what the other testers think, but to throw in my opinion, i think currently the ‘EASY’ game mode is fine as it currently is (well apart from the various mini bosses in the levels like the beetle’s and so on should be (at least) twice as difficult to destroy but that’s only my opinion. when they appear, i can kill them in just a few seconds, which i think is far too quickly and really makes them uninteresting and weak enemies).
well anyway i know it is only my opinion and you perhaps are happy as it is and dont want to change it, but these are the enemies i mean which i think should be twice as difficult:

( .. i havnt got to the 4th bug so dont know if he is too easy also) 🙂
.. maybe u could make them more difficult and see if the other testers complain? in which case u could simply make them easier again

i have successfully made a video of the game bug we have been discussing, i will be back soon with all the details and the video/screenshots (the camera i used is not very good but i notice when looking back at the video of the bug, there is a frame where you can see the bug has happened and the vectors have messed up and moved, it’s interesting to see, ok anyway i will be back shortly, i am starving so it’s lunch time now) heheh 😀

[vtk]

here is the gameplay bug: (see the video inside the .zip file)
edit: actually or maybe this issue is a bug with my vectrex.. i just thought of that 🙂
(the rom file used was the special beta you made)
the video:
https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1sD28xkO5C3zFpbN2GtdxThGkG078ed3N&export=download
http://vectrex.malban.de/tmp/BUG-Example1.avi

note that my video camera is not very good so first off, it can only record in 30 frames per second,
and secondly, for this video, turn up the sound volume very high so you can hear something what happens (explained below)..

in the video, if you watch and listen very carefully (because this bug happens quickly), at approx. 8 seconds into the video, there is a high pitched beep sound which came from the vectrex when the bug occurred, and then something goes wrong with the vectors — the spiky rocks, my 2 scoopy aliens, and the background stars all ‘move’ (jump) and are instead briefly displayed up and to the right of where they are supposed to be. it looks like from the screenshots below, the player ship and possibly the bullets also, are not affected. i’m not sure if the alien ships are affected.. it is hard to tell in the video).

look at these screenshots in the .zip file below for a closer look:
screenshot 1, is just before the bug occurs..
screenshot 2, the bug happens..
screenshot 3, we are back to normal display.
the screenshots:
https://drive.google.com/uc?authuser=0&id=1jH4RiJZhR4Qb1l5RflPsD-yX9W9j6Hdj&export=download

[Malban]

Wow.
I am a bit “flabbergasted”… never seen this behaviour – that will be quite a bug hunt.

I don’t think it is the vectrex. Notice, that the ship and the score are stable!
The stars, the shots, the enemies and the debris are destorted and dispositioned…

It appears also, that the last 2-3 vectors of each object are drawn out of proportion.

It is also worth mentioning, that the player ship is drawn with the same scale and the same routines as the enemy ship.

This makes NO sense…

[Malban]

Please have another try, new test version in:
http://vectrex.malban.de/privatBeta

Since I have trouble replicating it…

[vtk]

hey could be good news now

i have been trying that new level33overandover binary

i could not replicate the bug on that new binary

then i decided to try the older special binary and got the bug again
i then went back to the level33overandover binary again, and couldnt reproduce it

i went back and forth between the 2 binaries, i would say about 6 times, but could only see the bug happen on the older special binary, so i’m not sure what the difference is but perhaps you have managed to solve this bug, very quickly 🙂 ?

[vtk]

just been playing beta8

i did well managing to get to around level 80, was good to defeat the 3rd big boss, scored about 660,000

it was interesting as i got the ‘diamond storm’ stage where all of the objects in the minestorm are diamonds to collect. also, at one point in the game i got the super diamond (the big giant diamond) which i collected

i noticed i had about $25,000 cash at the shop, and later on i had about $56,000 so i expect i got the x2 bonus icon

i was certainly happier with the mini boss bugs having that increased strength, which now seems perfect to me on the easy mode (hopefully the other testers will be ok with that) 🙂

the levels after the 3rd big boss were interesting with the long blockade along the lower part of the screen to protect the alien enemies from the player shots. i noticed on level 79 i could fit single bullet shots through the gap on the far right of the screen though, perhaps u put that in on purpose? (it was very welcome to have that gap to fire through when stuck with the weak single shot!)

im a bit confused about the difference between the armour and shield, perhaps i need to read your docs about this? in the shop i noticed (i think) i could buy a shield, but, if you click to buy more shields in the shop, your cash is decreased each time you click on it in the shop, but u only ever end up with one shield? (maybe i got confused with all that, otherwise it would be a bug with the shield item purchasing)

i have changed from previously avoiding the mine strom icon (because previously i thought all the mine storm level gives u is some extra points if u get through it), to now always attempting to grab that icon when i see it, now that (after speaking to you about it) i know that completion of the mine storm gives you $1000 cash bonus

and … last thing for now then; i might be confused on this one but i think(?) the 3rd boss is LEVEL 75? but then on the level afterwards, i noticed it might have said LEVEL 75 again on the screen before the level commenced.. (should have said LEVEL 76 instead? it’s late though so maybe i got that wrong and i was just half-asleep, check it out perhaps) 🙂

hoping to be able to clear 100 levels soon

[vtk]

by the way, to mention about something u wrote elsewhere:

Bonus
One thing from the start.
I am aware, that some of the bonus are a little bit hard to discern. Nonetheless – the bonus are the size they are supposed to be – and that will not change.
You will discover, that if you play on a real vectrex a few games – you can very well see the differences quickly enough – I know I played many, many games.
Even if you can not see every vector clearly – the graphics are sufficently different from each other, that you will very fast LEARN which bonus does what.

in the beginning i had the problem with the compact size of the icons, but now i totally agree with what u said, it doesnt take long to get used to them and now i dont have any trouble at all during gameplay of knowing what every icon is

[Malban]

For the protocoll, the bug I fixed yesterday was (probably) the “same” as the one that occurred in your video:
Yesterday the step were:
The player must have a 4 shot AND scoopies.
And the “main shot” (the middle one) must be “zero” (all shots used, so that only scoopies are left).
And the right scoopy must still have all four shots.
And it must be the FIRST shot on screen (the lowest shot).
THAN 3 registeres were not initialized correctly and a crash could occur…

— :

The bug you showed probably was:
The player must have a 4 shot AND scoopies.
And the “main shot” (the middle one) must be “zero” (all shots used, so that only scoopies are left).
And the “right” (scoopy) must be “zero” (all shots used, so that only scoopies the left scoopy shot remains).
And the left scoopy must still have all four shots.
And it must be the FIRST shot on screen (the lowest shot).
THAN 3 registeres were not initialized correctly and a crash could occur…
(crash could also be jump to a different bank and make stupid things)

[Malban]

To higher levels:
– I think one or two of the shield levels might still be “buggy”. In that enemies may hide behind the shield and never come forth.
The only chance you than have is to nuke them with a superbomb. I have to look at that again.
—
Shield:
Invincible for a certain amount of time (Time extra…), “shield” arround the player is animated

Armor:
Not timed, protects the player from one shot only! Can be bought in the shop. “armor” around the player is not animated

Scoop, Shield, Armor are mutual exclusive, the last activated “wins”.
—
Buying armor – should only count once, if money is reduced more than once, than this is a bug (noted)…
—
Level counting:
Boss levels do not count as levels. So there is level 74, than boss, than 75… at least that is what is supposed to happen :-).
—
Single shot shields.
Yea, that was a bug, which is now a feature 🙂
Also if you have scoopies – they can also fire past the shield on the left/right. But I think I’ll keep it as it is!
—
Icons…
Since I had to redo all icons due to different drawing routines, they ARE slightly bigger than when I made the statement you quoted .-)
—

I am patiently waiting to see what “people” think of level 81…
(If too frustrated – hit pause and read the diary of Vec T. Rex.)

• This reply was modified 4 years, 11 months ago by Malban.

[vtk]

that’s strange i wonder why in all the times i played i have never had the animated shield you mentioned. i will try to get it then (how do i get it? lol) :p

thanks for explaining the level counting, i thought of that after i posted the message – “…oh wait ok the bosses probably dont use a level number”

it’s certainly a nice feature that if u have eg. single shot u can sneak bullets through little gaps 🙂

icons: that’s interesting, i rememeber i complained about the size early on, but never noticed they got bigger .. anyway they are ace so that’s that 🙂

i wonder if i have seen level 81 already, maybe that’s the level i died on last time i played (im not sure..) well anyway tonight i will play again, and try to get up to those higher levels

[Malban]

Ok ok animation is a big word for that little ‘shield wobble’ 😉

[vtk]

i just been playing, and i got to level 81

ok my weapons were not doing so well when i got to level 81, i just had double shot and my firing rate/amount of bullets was quite average,
the first life on level 81 i was just shooting like crazy so then after a while of that i realised that that was not going to clear the aliens as they kept increasing in numbers, so then i kind of sat back to see what would happen. then (apart from the regular ufo at the top which comes) i noticed the other type of alien arrive at the top of the screen so assumed if i could kill him, then that would end the level. however, as he passed, due to my weaker weapons and a lot of the smaller enemies in the way, i didn’t manage to kill him. then i waited again but im not sure if he was going to come back? anyway the other ufo eventually killed me. then on the next life i had single shot only, but this time i didnt shoot the small alien so he didnt multiply, and waited for that other larger alien to show up. when he did, i tried to kill him but due to only having single shot, i couldnt kill him during his pass. ok so then i hung around again, and eventually, the level just let me pass and i got to level 82 (i died there though, as my weapons were too weak now, single slow shot heheh) … anyway so just wanted to report in (needless to say i need to get back there again with good weapons and i think i would be ok)… will have another try tonight

[Malban]

…. much simpler…

Buhu *whining* why does nobody read my diary…

[Author]

Posts